Supposedly ‘healthy’ dishes served at popular UK chain restaurants can contain as many calories as two-and-a-half Big Macs, a MailOnline analysis has shown.
Salads sold at Ask Italian and veg-heavy ‘Buddha Bowls’ prepared by Pizza Express are packed with almost half of your daily recommended energy intake.
MailOnline’s audit found the worst offender, Wagamama’s Vegatsu — a katsu curry made with tofu instead of chicken — has 1,164 calories. And that’s before adding other sides or a drink.
Soya protein is added to the dish for extra bulk, before it is coated in crispy panko breadcrumbs. It’s served with sticky white rice, katsu curry sauce and salad.
It comes as a recent shock report found popular UK restaurant chains are serving microwave meals and dishes packed with ultra-processed foods.
Analysis of 20 family favourites, including TGI Fridays and Franco Manca, found some are ‘rarely’ preparing food and cooking on site using fresh ingredients.
Looking specifically at children’s menus, the Soil Association — who carried out the research — claimed chains were ‘misleading or even ripping parents off’.
As a guide, men should eat no more than 2,500 calories a day. For women, they’re advised to stick to 2,000 or below.
Healthier dishes served at popular UK chain restaurants can contain as many calories as two-and-a-half Big Macs, analysis shows
Zizzi’s Siciliana Salmon, a pasta dish served with pan-fried salmon, lemon, parsley butter and crispy kale, was another offender with 1,158 calories.
The chain’s Chicken Milanese, served with potatoes, green beans, kale and spinach also clocked up 1,067 calories.
By comparison, a McDonald’s Big Mac contains 493 calories.
Ask Italian’s Caesar di Grande salad, meanwhile, contained 1,100 calories — equivalent to more than three portions of McDonald’s medium fries.
It contains a pan-fried chicken breast, baby gem lettuce leaves, a Caesar dressing, anchovy croutons and hard cheese.
Other salad offerings by three separate family favourites also logged values around 1,000.
Wetherspoon’s Chargrilled lemon and herb half chicken with a Mediterranean salad, Pizza Express’ Crispy Chicken Buddha Bowl and TGI Fridays’ Cobb Salad with grilled chicken and a honey and mustard dressing, recorded 1,048, 887 and 884 calories respectively.
Eddie Gershon, a spokesperson for Wetherspoon, told MailOnline: ‘Wetherspoon has highlighted the number of calories in each meal on its menu for a number of years.
A shock report yesterday found popular UK restaurant chains are serving microwave meals and dishes packed with ultra-processed junk
Looking specifically at children’s menus, the Soil Association — who carried out the research — claimed chains were ‘misleading or even ripping parents off’. The full league table showing the quality of children’s menus at UK high street restaurants
‘It allows customers to make an informed choice.
‘The menu also contains a high number of lower calorie options.’
A spokesperson for Pizza Express also said: ‘At Pizza Express we have always proudly taken the nutritional content of our meals very seriously, which is why most of our salads contain only 550 calories.
‘In 2008, we introduced our popular Leggera pizza range where 95 per cent are under only 650 calories and typically have a third fewer calories than our Romana pizzas.’
MailOnline has approached all other four restaurants mentioned for comment.
The Soil Association — a food and farming charity — said it discovered an ‘abundance of unhealthy options, excessively sugary desserts, problematic additives, plus ultra-processed and low-welfare meat’ in its recent probe into chain restaurants.
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is an umbrella term that covers a host of foods packed with artificial colourings, sweeteners and preservatives as well as calories and sugar.
In recent years UPFs – which are usually high in salt, sugar and saturated fat – have been linked in studies to an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer and early death.
Foods can be broken down into four broad categories, fresh foods, simple ingredients that are used in cooking, processed foods which combined the latter two groups, and ultra-processed foods, which are made with numerous additives and preservatives
The UK consumes more UPFs than any other European country, with the foods making up an estimated 57 per cent of the national diet.
They are thought to be a key driver of obesity, which costs the NHS around £6.5billion a year.
Franco Manca ranked bottom of the league table for failing to serve enough vegetables to kids, while KFC was found to be importing meat from halfway across the world.
Wahaca and Carluccio’s were the only chains, it was claimed, to be making dishes from minimally processed ingredients.
Price was not a barrier to better children’s menus, with high scoring JD Wetherspoon one of the cheapest chains surveyed.
The popular pub ranked highly for serving all of its children’s meals with two portions of vegetables and a fruit option for pudding.
For the study, the Soil Association used secret diners and surveyed restaurant chains to compile a league table ranking of menus.
It also asked chains to provide information about the extent to which their three most popular meals were freshly prepared.
At least 40 per cent of 140 protein options — meat, fish and plant-based — across the high street were ultra-processed, according to the charity’s analysis.
Only Wagamama, Nando’s and Leon offered children’s menus that were completely free from both artificially sweetened and added sugar drinks.
Most fruit and vegetables also came from abroad, with just one restaurant — Nando’s — reporting using 100 per cent British meat for children’s meals.
KFC and TGI Fridays served meat from as far away as Thailand and Brazil.
