Little appetite for sticking to targets on healthy eating

More than half restaurants fail to meet nutrition goals – survey

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The targets were introduced in 2016.

Less than half of the menu items at the UK's most popular restaurants meet healthy nutrition targets, reveals a new study.

Researchers found that only 43 per cent of dishes on offer at the UK's 21 highest-grossing restaurant chains met all their voluntary targets for sugar, salt and calorie reduction, as set by the UK Government.

The targets for manufacturers, retailers and restaurants were introduced from 2016 to reduce sugar, salt and calorie content as foods high in energy, saturated fat, free sugars and salt have been linked with an increased risk of obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases.

Sugar targets were intended to be met by 2020, the salt targets by 2024, and the calorie targets by 2025.

Few studies have assessed the nutritional quality of foods in the restaurant sector, despite an increasing percentage of weekly food intake coming from takeaway or restaurant meals.