Feeding children pesto pasta could be worse for their health than letting them eat McDonald's hamburgers, a salt action group has warned.

The amount of salt in pesto is rising with the average serving now containing 1.5g of salt, research found, overtaking McDonalds hamburgers which contain 1.2g.

This is equivalent to half of a 4 to 6 year-old child's 3g daily salt allowance according to the NHS. In 2009 the average pesto serving contained 1.17g of salt.

The report warned: "A popular choice among parents, pesto is often given to young children – making it an even bigger contributor towards their salt intakes as the maximum daily recommended intake is much lower for children. In the long term, this could increase a child’s risk of developing high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks later in life."