Big six fast-food chains pledge to slash fat and salt in historic anti-obesity shift



Historic shift: KFC is one of sixth fast food chains that has signed up to the anti-obesity drive

Six of the country's biggest restaurant chains have pledged to serve more salad and slash levels of fat and salt in their products in an historic shift.

Burger King, KFC, McDonald's, Nando's, Subway and Wimpy have signed up to the anti-obesity drive by the Government's Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Fast food chains Burger King and Wimpy have pledged to run trials on using frying oils that contain less saturated fat.

Burger King is also introducing a new healthy apple dessert as an alternative to ice cream.

Subway promised a review of its entire menu to reduce salt levels by 15 per cent by June next year. Staff will also stop offering to add salt to fillings.

The firm is also to offer side salads with its rolls and aims to reduce saturated fat levels in its standard creations.

Wimpy has introduced five new salads to its menu and also offers jacket potatoes and salads as alternatives to fries with its children's meals.

The biggest chain, McDonald's, said customers will be able to order Big Macs without sauce and fries without salt.

It is running a trial on fruit smoothies as an alternative to sugary fizzy drinks and has pledged to introduce more fruit and veg options backed by popular children's cartoon characters.

Both Nandos and KFC are promising a review of their most popular menu items to reduce both levels of fat and salt.

The FSA is putting pressure on restaurant chains to radically change their menus, moving from fried food to fruit, vegetables and salad.

The Government watchdog has already won commitments from catering firms. It is also in talks with the country's largest pub, family restaurant and coffee shop chains.

It estimates that Britons are eating 20 per cent too much saturated fat every day, which is contributing to some 200,000 deaths a year from coronary heart disease.

It has set itself a target to reduce the proportion of food energy from saturated fat from an average of 13.3 per cent to 11 per cent by 2010.

This, it claims, would prevent 3,500 premature deaths a year.

Head of nutrition at the FSA, Rosemary Hignett, welcomed the pledges from the six restaurant chains.

'Eating out should be fun and we don't want to change that, but we believe restaurants can help make it easier for us to take healthier choices when dining out,' she said.



'These companies' commitments, together with the positive work that many have been doing for a number of years, show just how much is possible. We hope that other restaurant chains will be able to emulate this exciting work'.

The FSA has no legal power to force restaurants to change their recipes. However, it has the backing of the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, and the ability to shame firms that refuse to fall into line.

The organisation wants restaurants to publish nutrition information on the menus in their high street outlets to help people choose healthy options.

Currently, most of the major chains are unwilling to go beyond putting the information on calories, fat, salt and sugar on their websites.

Earlier this year, a Cabinet Office report on future food policy outlined the need for restaurants to include more nutrition information on their menus.

It said: 'We need to help consumers to access healthier choices when eating out, and need to provide information that considers both the health and environmental aspects of food.'

It justified the measures, saying: 'Changes in eating patterns would bring huge health gains here in the UK.

'Poor diet is known to influence the risk of cancer, heart disease and other conditions.

'The importance of nutrition for mental health and well-being is gradually becoming clearer.

'Around 70,000 fewer people would die prematurely each year in the UK if diets matched the nutritional guidelines on fruit and vegetable consumption, and saturated fat, added sugar and salt intake.'

Chairman of the FSA, Dame Deirdre Hutton, said: 'We are used to seeing nutritional information in supermarkets and we would like to enable people to make the same informed choices when they eat out as well.'

It said restaurants should replace unhealthy dishes, like fried foods, with healthy options.

Dame Deirdre said: 'It's about more than just providing information - we're working with major contract caterers, restaurant, pub and sandwich chains to encourage them to offer a wider range of great tasting healthier options.'

The British Hospitality Association says that small independent restaurants, which are constantly changing their menus, will find it difficult to provide nutrition information.



