Children are being served up too many calories

Wednesday, August 4, 2004

Children are being served up too many calories and excessive fat and not enough of the necessary fibre content and essential vitamins in children's meals on the menu at restaurants, cafes and leisure centres, according to a survey for the Food Commission. All the 141 meals that were analysed failed to meet at least one of the Caroline Walker Trust's nutritional guidelines for school meals. The meals analysed at the Harvester chain, Adventure Kingdom and home superstore IKEA were too high in calories. The 'Rib Ticklers' offered at Harvester contained more than twice the recommended number of calories and four times the recommended levels of fat. Even at London's Science Museum, all the children's meals on offer contained too much saturated fat. The research findings have been submitted to the Food Standards Agency in response to its children's food promotion consultation and to the Department of Health for its 'Choosing Health' consultation.