Restaurants Continue to Serve Huge Amounts of Salt in Children’s Meals, Putting their Long-term Health at Risk

• NEW research finds one in three (35%) meals contain a whopping 2g or more of salt – that’s two-thirds of a 4-6-year old’s maximum daily limit in a single meal [1]
• One set meal from Prezzo contains an eye-watering 7g of salt - more than DOUBLE the maximum daily limit for a child
• Two in five (43%) children’s meals exceed the MAXIMUM salt target set by Department of Health – that’s despite salt reduction being one of the most cost-effective ways to save lives [2]
• Lack of consistency and lack of labelling means parents have no idea how much salt their kids are being fed
• Action on Salt calls for Boris Johnson to finally ‘level up’ before he leaves office and release of the Government’s progress reports on salt, sugar and calorie reduction – plus enforcement of the salt reduction targets (with penalties for those businesses that don’t comply) 

Click here to view the full report Salt content in children's meals report [PDF 1,155KB]

View media coverage here 

NEW research by Action on Salt, the scientific expert group based at Queen Mary University of London, shows restaurant chains’ are serving unacceptably high salt dishes to children, with a worrying 34% of meals [3] containing 2g or more of salt. That’s two-thirds of a 4-6-year old’s maximum daily limit and more than 11 packets of Pom-Bears [4]. These findings are despite earlier calls [5] to bring the restaurant sector in line with Government recommendations. 

Today, Action on Salt is demanding stricter standards for child health to include mandatory regulation on salt, sugar and calorie levels in foods intended for child consumption. Failure to act will have a detrimental impact on the future health and wellbeing of children, as well as on our economy [6], say the experts.  

Key Survey Findings 

Of the 302 meals surveyed, 41% were HIGH in salt (i.e. more than 1.8g) and would have a red warning label if colour coded labels were employed in the restaurant sector (as they are on supermarket meals) [7]. The saltiest meal was Gourmet Burger Kitchen’s cheeseburger with skinny fries which has a shocking 4.8g salt - that’s more than a child’s recommended maximum DAILY limit and has more salt than an entire jar of olives! [8]. 

Depending on where you chose to eat, a child could be consuming as much as TEN TIMES MORE SALT for the same meal. Gourmet Burger Kitchen's Cheeseburger & Fries contains 4.8g salt compared to Hungry Horse's Chicken burger & Chips at a much more acceptable 0.8g salt. This clearly shows that the food industry can easily reduce these unnecessary amounts of salt in the food.

Table 1. Variation of salt content by meal types 

Many of these restaurants offer set menus which often include a starter, main (with sides) and dessert for an attractive price. This means that children consume excessive amounts of salt, sugars and saturated fat. Take for example Prezzo’s ‘Gluten Free Garlic Bread with Mozzarella (starter) and ‘Gluten-free Vegan Kids Pepperoni pizza (main) containing 7g salt – double the maximum daily intake for a child. Miller and Carter’s set meal of Hand cut nachos (starter), Grilled chicken & ratatouille (main) and Fries (side) contains 5.7g, well over a child’s recommended intake for the whole day. In addition, it also contains more than half of an adult’s daily calorie intake (1198kcal) and three-quarters (14.7g) of an adult’s maximum daily intake for saturated fat [9].  

Salt Targets 

As part of the Governments’ commitment to improve the nation’s health and prevent thousands of people dying unnecessarily from strokes and heart disease, restaurants have been asked to gradually reduce the amount of salt being added to their dishes. Considering retailers have been set more challenging targets [3], A pitiful target of no more than 1.71g has been set for children’s meals, and yet of the 302 meals surveyed, nearly half (43%) exceed this level, with some companies performing terribly. More than three quarters of meals served up at Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Pizza Hut exceed the salt target [11], in comparison to Brewer’s Fayre, Burger King and Ikea where all their children’s dishes fall below 1.71g. This clearly shows that many companies are completely ignoring the Government’s commitment to reducing salt.  

How do they compare to 2019? 

Action on Salt previously surveyed children’s meals in 2019 where more than 41% of dishes were reportedly high in salt. Since then, some restaurants have reduced the salt content of some of their meals.  Harvester’s Rotisserie Chicken with Fresh Vegetable Sticks and Garden Peas had the biggest reported reduction in salt content by 56% from 1g to 0.44g, but some of their dishes have also increased substantially e.g., Harvester Bigger Appetites, Grilled Chicken Breast with Sweet Potato Fries & Half Corn on the Cob, from 1g to 1.56g.  

 Of the dishes that appear in both 2019 and 2022, 44% have reduced salt but worryingly, one in four (24%) have also increased in salt, and a third (33%) have seen no reductions. Progress was inconsistent across the different chains, with some prioritising children’s health more than others (Table 2).  

Table 2. Average salt content of dishes surveyed in 2019 and 2022  

Examples of Good Practice  

Some restaurants have adopted healthier practices to improve the nutritional profile of their food such as providing chips which are not salted, and offering more vegetables as a side dish. Six out of the 15 restaurants surveyed also provide extra information on menus, such as ‘low in salt’ and ‘1 of your 5-a-day’. In addition to calorie labelling, which is now a mandatory requirement for large restaurant chains, Hungry Horse references sugar and salt content on its menu which is useful for parents looking to make healthier choices for their children. 

Sheena Bhageerutty, Assistant Nutritionist at Action on Salt says: “Whilst eating less salt early on in life is a healthier habit which should be embedded into adulthood, most of our salt intake is out of our control as it is already in the food we buy and order when dining out. Restaurants therefore have the very simple option to cook with less salt and help give our children the best start in life.”   

Sonia Pombo, Campaign Manager at Action on Salt adds "Despite the last two years of the pandemic being a huge challenge for the hospitality sector, restaurants should have seized the opportunity and re-opened their doors with wholesome, nutritious meals to suit our children’s needs. It has been three years since our previous survey was undertaken exposing the unacceptably high salt dishes served up in UK restaurants and is now abundantly clear that no progress has been made. These stark new findings should be a wakeup call to the sector to make children’s health a priority.”  

Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Queen Mary University of London and Chair of Action on Salt, says: “Gradually reducing the salt that is added to our food is the most cost-effective measure for lowering blood pressure and thereby reducing the thousands of strokes and heart disease that are caused by this excessive salt intake. Ministers must now force recalcitrant restaurants to stop adding all of this salt with a mandatory reformulation programmes, better labelling and restrictions on marketing and promotions to truly stop this flood of unhealthy food being served up and putting our children’s future health at risk.” 

Charlotte Stirling-Reed, Registered Nutritionist said: "We need to do something about the food available for babies and toddlers at restaurants. There is often little choice, lots of fried foods, little in the way of fruit and veg on offer and - as this survey from AoS shows -  meals for toddlers often are high in salt, which isn't recommended for adults, let alone young children. It would be great to see some regulation in this area as parents see menus available for children and then take those foods as "the norm" or the typical options that young children SHOULD be eating, which is often far from the truth! Some restaurants do a GREAT job at providing balanced, nutritious, smaller meals for toddlers that tick many boxes when it comes to their nutritional needs - we need to showcase some of these examples to show other restaurants (including some of the bigger chains) how it's done. So if you're a restaurant who has been working hard on your kids menu, get in touch, we'd love to highlight some incredible examples of toddler meals in restaurants."

Comments from Restaurants:

Prezzo have notified us of an error in their published nutritional information, which they have since updated on their website as of 14th July 2022.  

Olly Smith, Chief Culinary Officer:  

“Reducing salt content is a key priority for Prezzo, and critical component of our Nutrition Strategy.  A number of the menu items listed in this report have either been redeveloped or removed from our menus entirely as part of this focus and prior to this report. In addition, as part of our strategy to provide nutritionally balanced meals for children, we have developed an additional option for children under 6 with a very low level of sodium. We will continue to review our levels of salt and identify ways in which it can be reduced without compromising our food quality, safety and flavour.” 

 

 

^References 

^{[1] Maximum daily intakes for a 4-6 year old is 3g/day https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/338782/SACN_Salt_and_Health_report.pdf}

^{[2] Public Health England’s 2024 targets https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/915406/2024_salt_reduction_targets_070920-FINAL-1.pdf}

^{[3] Survey Details: Please see Action on Salt’s Report for more detail. Action on Salt surveyed 302 children’s main meals from 15 popular family dining restaurants which had a children’s menu available as well as publicly available nutritional information. Where menus provided an option of sides, two combinations with the highest salt and lowest salt value was included in the survey data for each main meal. Other combinations may be available in store.}  

^{[4] A 13g bag of Pom-Bears contains 0.18g salt https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/302309577}

^{[5]Action on Salt previously surveyed the salt content of children’s meals in 2019. https://www.actiononsalt.org.uk/salt-surveys/2019/salt-awareness-week-2019-survey/#d.en.665691}

^{[6] The estimated combined costs of ill health caused by poor diet, directly to the NHS in treatment costs, is at a minimum £40 billion per annum – not including the wider costs to society. CASSH’ the future of prevention in the UK https://www.actiononsalt.org.uk/about/position-statements/the-future-of-prevention-in-the-uk/}

^{[7] Department of Health criteria for colour coded labels: Green ≤0.3/100g, Amber >0.3 - ≤1.5g, Red >1.5g /100g, >1.8g/portion for salt https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/front-of-pack-nutrition-labelling-guidance}

^{[8] Tesco Pitted Green Olives in Brine https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/258251520}

^{[9] The average women aged 19-64 years should eat no more than 20g of saturated fat a day https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/eat-less-saturated-fat/}