More than a third of children’s main meals sold in restaurants still exceed the government’s maximum salt target, with Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Wetherspoon’s and Prezzo among the worst offenders, a survey suggests.
Action on Salt found that 37% of children’s main meals sold in the “out of home” sector exceeded the government-set maximum target of 1.71g of salt, to be achieved by the end of the year.
Children aged between four and six should eat no more than 3g of salt a day in total, according to guidelines.
Almost 50% of children’s restaurant meals provide at least half of a child’s daily limit, with some dishes containing more than their entire day’s worth of salt, Action on Salt found.
Of the 37 restaurants included in the research, 29 provided accessible nutrition information for customers in conjunction with legislation set by the government in 2021 on calorie labelling, which applies to large businesses.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen had the highest overall salt content in its children’s meals – averaging 3.06g per meal – whereas the children’s meal with the highest salt content was Bella Italia’s larger vegan margherita pizza, with 4.4g salt.
A Gourmet Burger Kitchen junior cheeseburger with skinny fries contained 4.2g of salt, the survey found, while Prezzo’s rigatoni carbonara contained 3.9g and Hungry Horse’s Quorn sausages, fresh garden salad and baked beans contained 3.59g.
In comparison, the restaurant with the lowest average salt content in its children’s meals was Subway at 0.79g.
Other meals found to have a low salt content were Wetherspoon’s tomato and mascarpone pasta (no salt), ASK Italian mini-main pasta with butter (0.01g), Prezzo’s gluten-free kids’ fusilli butter (0.05g) and Hungry Horse’s impossible nuggets with mini-corn on the cob and chips (0.12g).
The survey found similar meals had varying levels of salt depending on the company in question. Sausage meals from Hungry Horse (3.59g) contained almost four times as much salt than those served at Wetherspoon’s (1g).
Just six restaurants had entire menus that were below the salt target, including Burger King, Ikea, Pret a Manger, Subway, Toby Carvery and Yo! Sushi.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen had the lowest compliance (88% of menu items exceeding the salt target), followed by Wetherspoon’s (69%) and Prezzo (68%), Action on Salt said.
Graham MacGregor, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University of London and chair of Action on Salt, said: “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.”
He said the research showed many companies were 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.”
A spokesperson for Hungry Horse said: “All products on our Hungry Horse Children’s Menu meet the Public Health England 2024 salt reduction targets. Since 2019, we’ve reduced the average salt content in our menu items by nearly 15% (3% of which has been in 2024). We endeavour to work towards decreasing this further in our next menu update.”
Gourmet Burger Kitchen said that the salt content of some of its menu choices highlighted had changed recently; the junior cheeseburger with skinny fries now contained only 2.6g of salt, for example. It said that fries are served without salt seasoning on children’s menu dishes, salt is not available on the table, and it is reviewing its bread buns to reduce salt while maintaining quality and safety. Head of food development Andy Hazel said: “We understand the importance of offering healthier options and are taking several measures to improve our kids’ meal choices.”
The Wetherspoon chair, Tim Martin, questioned the findings, saying: “The Japanese and Italians, champions of longevity, consume about 50% more salt than we do here.
“Having said that, Wetherspoon decided, as a precaution, to take steps to reduce the salt content of its meals.”
A Bella Italia spokesperson said: “We provide a wide range of menu options for guests, catering for various dietary needs, and as such provide detailed nutritional information on our website to allow parents to make informed decisions about what their children eat in our restaurants.
“We also understand that some menu items and ingredients are predisposed to having a higher salt content than others, and we will continue to work with our suppliers to understand how we can keep improving the nutritional content of our food, while still delivering great flavours and value for money that people visit us for.”
Prezzo has been contacted for comment.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the amount of salt in food has fallen by around 20% since 2006. They said they had restricted the placement of less healthy foods in stores and online, and introduced calorie labelling on menus.
• This article was amended on 17 May 2024 to add a response from Gourmet Burger Kitchen.
