Unhealthy Pre-packaged Salads

Prepared Supermarket Foods may be High in Calories and Fat

Jun 25, 2009 Rupert Taylor

Most consumers believe that eating salad rather than chain fast food is a healthy choice; in some cases they are wrong.

In the United Kingdom, the consumer magazine Which? has released a report on pre-packaged salads sold in supermarkets. Researchers studied 20 salads and found that many contained a large portion of the daily recommended maximum amount of fat, others were loaded with salt and calories, and some were labelled misleadingly.

Fat and Calories in Salad

Among the worst offenders was a shrimp salad sold in the Morrisons supermarket chain; Which? said it “contains 855 calories and 66.3g fat. This is more calories and fat than a McDonald’s Big Mac and medium fries. It has 70 percent of the fat that a man should eat in a day. The only vegetables it contains are a small amount of spinach and cucumber.”

(The magazine article said the recommended daily intakes for adults are:

• For men - Calories 2,500, total fat 95g, saturated fat 30g, salt 6g; and,
• For women - Calories 2,000, total fat 70g, saturated fat 20g, salt 6g.

Another bad choice is a Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad sold in Asda stores. “The 43g of fat in this salad is nearly as much as six Cadbury’s Creme eggs. It has almost 60 percent of the fat and 45 percent of the saturated fat a woman should eat in a day. A quarter of the salad is calorific and fatty creamy dressings. It contains as much mayonnaise as it does chicken."

Food Labelling is Not Always Accurate

BBC News (June 25, 2009) reporting on the Which? study commented on the mislabelling aspect:

• “Sainsbury’s Tomato & Basil Chicken, Which? claimed, specified it had no mayonnaise but the ingredients list revealed it contained egg yolk, oil, and white wine vinegar - the same ingredients as the dressing;
• “Tesco Tuna Layered Salad at a glance appeared to contain 275 calories and 20.5g of fat, but this was for half the pack, Which? said.”

Healthier Salad Choices

The magazine points out that there are healthy choices to be made:

• “Look for salads that contain separate containers of dressing, as they allow you to add as much or as little as you want;
• “Salads that have a lot of cheese are often high in fat;
• “For vegetarians looking for a lower fat option, go for something with pulses or beans. These are low-fat and contain protein, which is important for the body’s growth and repair;
• “Croutons tend to be fried or baked in oil, so they quickly increase calorie and fat content; and,
• “Look for a salad with lots of different colours as it’s likely to have one or two of your five [vegetables] a day.”

Content Control in Homemade Salads

The BBC interviewed Nathalie Winn, a nutritionist for the World Cancer Research Fund. She said: “Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables probably reduces risk of several types of cancer, but if you are regularly eating salads that are packed with calories then you are more likely to put on weight.

“This is a cause for concern because scientists now say that, after not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight is the most important thing you can do for cancer prevention.”

Ms. Winn’s advice is to make salads at home as “the best way of knowing exactly what is in them.”

The copyright of the article Unhealthy Pre-packaged Salads in Nutrition is owned by Rupert Taylor. Permission to republish Unhealthy Pre-packaged Salads in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

A Good Salad; Lots of Veg, No Creamy Dressing.