Restaurants Urged to Prioritise Children’s Health, say Experts, as Some Provide More Than an Entire Day’s Worth of Salt in Just One Meal

• Nearly 50% of children’s meals sold in the Out of Home (OOH) sector provide at least half of a child’s daily limit for salt – with some dishes containing more than a child’s entire day’s worth of salt in just one meal!
• One in five businesses do not disclose the salt content of their meals online
• Worryingly, only six businesses are fully compliant with the government’s voluntary salt target for children’s meals, set to be achieved by end of 2024
• Call for clearer labelling on children’s menus and mandatory salt reduction targets across all food sectors, including OOH

Action on Salt (the expert research group based at Queen Mary University of London) is shining a much-needed spotlight on salt after a worrying 37% of children’s main meals sold in the OOH sector are found to exceed the maximum salt target (set by government for food businesses) to be achieved by the end of 2024[ii].

With diets high in salt being a major risk factor for raised blood pressure in both children and adults, this NEW research, undertaken by Action on Salt for Salt Awareness Week (13^th – 19^th May), underpins the call for government and businesses to prioritise children’s health by:

• Introducing clearer labelling on children’s menus, with information on salt as well as fats and sugars at point of purchase
• Setting mandatory salt reduction targets for all food manufacturing businesses, including the OOH sector, to improve public health

Key Findings

Of the 37x OOH eateries included in the research, only 29 of these provided accessible nutrition information for customers in conjunction with legislation set by government in 2021 on calorie labelling which applies to large businesses.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen was the restaurant with the highest overall salt content in their children’s meals (averaging 3.06g per meal), whereas the worst offender for the children’s meal with the highest salt content was Bella Italia’s Larger Vegan Margherita Pizza with 4.4g salt – that’s more than double the amount of salt as a shop-bought pizza!

Examples of children’s meals exceeding a six-year old’s entire day’s worth of salt included:

• Gourmet Burger Kitchen Junior Cheeseburger with Skinny Fries with 4.2g
• Prezzo Rigatoni Carbonara with 3.9g
• Hungry Horse Quorn Sausages, Fresh Garden Salad and Baked Beans with 3.59g

By comparison, the restaurant with the lowest average salt content in their children’s meals was Subway (0.79g).

Examples of children’s meals surveyed with the lowest reported salt content included:

• Wetherspoon Tomato & Mascarpone Pasta with 0.0g
• ASK Italian Mini Main Pasta with Butter with 0.01g
• Prezzo Gluten-free Kids Fusilli Butter with 0.05g
• Hungry Horse Impossible Nuggets with Mini Corn on the Cob and Chips with 0.12g
• Harvester 4oz Rump Steak with Corn Cob and Garden Peas with 0.14g

Given that one in two (49%) main meals sold in the OOH sector contain more than half of a child’s (aged 4-6) daily limit for salt, more robust measures should be introduced to ensure families can make more informed, healthier choices when it comes to eating food out or ordering takeaways.

Interestingly, similar meals had varying levels of salt depending on the company in question. For example, sausage meals from Hungry Horse had a whopping 4x more salt than that served at Wetherspoon. This demonstrates that it is possible to produce meals with less salt, including burgers and pizza, and should be prioritised when planning children’s menus.

Many of the meals were also found to have excessive levels of calories, fat and saturated fat, with approximately one in three dishes exceeding a third of a child’s maximum daily limit for calories and saturated fat. The main meal with the highest calorie content was Hungry Horse Double Cheeseburger with Chips, Peas and Corn, containing 906kcal – that’s 66% of a child’s daily limit. Prezzo’s Gluten-free Fusilli Carbonara contained 21g saturated fat, more than a child’s entire day’s worth in just one meal.

Set Meals

Many of the companies included in the research offered two or three course set menus, and nearly two thirds had promoted ‘Kids Eat Free’ or other similar discounts during school holidays. Several of these ‘meal deals’ contribute to excessive consumption of calories, salt and saturated fat. The saltiest set menu combination was double the maximum daily limit for a 4–6-year-old.

Voluntary Salt Reduction Targets

With one in three (37%) main dishes exceeding the voluntary salt target for children’s meals set by government[v], only six restaurants had their entire menu below the target. These included Burger King, Ikea, Pret A Manger, Subway, Toby Carvery and YO! Sushi. Gourmet Burger Kitchen had the lowest compliance (88% exceeding the salt target), followed by Wetherspoon (69%) and Prezzo (68%). It’s therefore clear that many eateries are not doing enough to reduce the amount of salt being added to their dishes.

Labelling
Whilst more than three in four OOH businesses provided additional nutrition information on their website, eight businesses did not provide any information on salt[vi], and only two labelled salt on their menus at point of purchase (i.e. Hungry Horse and Wetherspoon).  With only calorie labelling required on menus by law, this lack of transparency makes it more challenging for parents to make informed choices for their children.

Are children’s meals getting better?

Following Action on Salt’s previous survey of children’s meals in 2019[vii], the average salt content has since decreased by 12% over five years, from 1.73g to 1.55g. The greatest reductions were reported in Burger King, ASK Italian and Harvester, with children’s main meals now ~50% lower in salt. Disappointingly, these reductions were not seen across all businesses. Children’s main meals in Leon, Slug & Lettuce, Zizzi, and Nando’s all reportedly have more than 20% salt on average, than five years ago.

Zoe Davies, Nutritionist at Action on Salt says:

“If the Out of Home sector were as transparent as retailers, who are legally obliged to declare nutrition information on pack, surely these companies wouldn’t think twice about reducing the amount of salt in their food rather than having to declare that their meals contain more salt than a child’s entire day’s worth. Parents need to be supported in fuelling their children with nutritious food, including that of meals eaten out of home.”

Sonia Pombo, Registered Nutritionist and Campaign Lead at Action on Salt adds:

“Whilst it’s great to see some businesses making improvements in their children’s menus, it’s concerning that these efforts are not widespread, nor consistent across the sector. Generally speaking, the Out of Home sector is the ‘Wild West’ of the food industry and we simply cannot rely on all businesses to do what’s expected of them voluntarily. Implementing mandatory regulations is the only way forward if we are to level the playing field and create a more sustainable food environment for future generations.”

Professor Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Queen Mary University of London and Chair of Action on Salt explains:

“Children in the UK are eating too much salt, which puts them on track to develop high blood pressure later in life. Raised blood pressure.is the biggest cause of strokes and heart disease, which in themselves are the biggest cause of death and a major cause of disability. Our research clearly demonstrates that many companies are deliberately flouting the targets for salt reduction in their foods and appear to be indifferent to our children’s health. It is time the government took action and enforced the salt targets, as some companies have clearly demonstrated that it can easily be done.”

Dr Pauline Swift, Vice-Chair of Blood Pressure UK, adds:

“Excessive salt and calories in restaurant and take-out food contributes massively to a child’s perception that the taste of certain meals is a perfectly normal, yet it is contributing to the growing epidemic of obesity and high blood pressure in children and young adults. The Government need to pay attention to the call for improvements in salt regulation of this sector of the food industry.”

John Maingay, Director of Policy and Influencing at the British Heart Foundation, said:
“Eating too much salt as a child can increase the risk of developing high blood pressure as an adult, and this increases the chance of having a future heart attack or stroke. However, as much as 85 per cent of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy.

“There is a clear case for helping families eat more healthily by taking salt out of food before it ends up on our plates, at home and when eating out. If the food industry will not lower the salt content of their products, the Government will need to step in to protect the health of future generations.”