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Nutritional content of supermarket ready meals and recipes by television chefs in the United Kingdom: cross sectional study
In this 2012 study, the main meal recipes created by television chefs were assessed and compared with ready meals sold by supermarkets on energy and macronutrient content, and also on their adherence to nutritional guidelines. Howard et al. analyzed 100 recipes from the five best-selling cookery books by UK television chefs and 100 own brand ready meals from the three leading UK supermarkets. The outcome measures included the number of meals for which the nutritional content complied with recommendations published by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the proportion of nutrients classed as either red, amber, or green according to the UK FSA’s “traffic light” system for labelling food. The study found that although none of the recipes nor ready meals complied with the WHO recommendations, the ready meals were more likely to comply with the recommended percentage of energy obtained from carbohydrates, sugars, and fiber density (all p ≤ 0.05). The chefs’ recipes had a greater chance of complying with the recommended quantity of sodium, but the author notes that salt used for seasoning was not included in the assessment. The most common traffic light color under the FSA’s food labelling recommendations was red for the recipes (47%) and green for the ready meals (42%). Moreover, the recipes were made up of significantly more energy, protein, fat, and saturated fat per portion than the ready meals. [NPID: perception, nutritional guidelines, television chefs, food labeling, food labels, salt, ready meals, saturated fat]
Year: 2012
