Ready meals 'crammed' with salt

Some ready meals are "crammed" with salt and fat, a consumer group has warned.

Which? found huge variations in recipes for different pizzas, curries and lasagnes sold in supermarkets. Some popular dishes contained five times more fat and four times more salt than the healthiest versions. But the product packaging doesn't always make it obvious to shoppers what they are eating, Which? said.

With nearly a third of shoppers buy a ready meal at least once a week, pushing sales to about £2 billion per year, the consumer group is calling for all manufacturers and retailers to add traffic light labels to their products to indicate levels of fat, sugar and salt.

Which? chief policy adviser Sue Davies said: "Going to the supermarket for a ready meal has become a lucky dip as some manufacturers are still insisting on cramming their meals with salt and fat, without making it obvious for shoppers what they're really eating."

The highest amounts of fat, saturated fat and salt per 100g were all found in cheese and tomato pizzas.

Dr Oetker ristorante pizza mozzarella was the highest in fat at 14.4g per 100g.

Tesco deep crust pizza cheese feast was highest in saturates at 7.9g per 100g. And five different pizzas were all joint worst for salt content at 1.5g per 100g. These were: Chicago Town five cheese takeaway original pizza; Dietary Specials mozzarella and tomato pizza; Goodfellas delicia margherita pizza; Iceland two tomato and mozzarella ciabatta; and Tesco cheese pizza.

Which? researchers compared cheese and tomato pizzas, chicken tikka masalas and beef lasagnes bought from major supermarkets in March. These included fresh, frozen, own-brand, branded, premium and healthy ranges. The products' fat, saturated fat and salt content were compared per 100g and per portion.

The British Retail Consortium said the Which? report did not reflect the "huge efforts" retailers had made to make food products healthier.

BRC director general Kevin Hawkins said: "British retailers are leaders in promoting healthy eating. They deserve the credit for that. They have made huge strides in offering healthy food choices, re-formulating products and informing customers. The simple and clear nutritional labelling on supermarket products gives consumers the information they need to make sensible choices about what they eat."

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