How healthy is eating out in Scotland? Nutritional analysis of popular food items from independent out of home businesses

Summary

This report, developed in collaboration with Nesta, is the latest in a series of FSS publications on the Out of Home (OOH) food environment. The report describes key findings from research which used laboratory analysis to assess the portion sizes and nutritional content of a range of popular OOH foods sold by independent businesses in Scotland.

• Many individual food items sampled through laboratory analysis contained high levels of calories, total fat, saturated fat, total sugar and salt close to, or exceeding the maximum dietary recommendations per day, and low levels of fibre.
  • On average, battered pizza meals contained 1,327 calories, (66% of the maximum dietary recommendation per day).
  • Doner kebabs had the highest average levels of salt with 7.7g per portion, (28% above the maximum dietary recommendation of 6g per day).
  • One macaroni cheese sample contained 101g of saturated fat (321% above the maximum dietary recommendation per day). 
  • Millionaire’s shortbread had on average 34g of total sugar per portion (38% of the maximum reference intake for total sugars).
  • Eighteen percent of all samples analysed  had less than 2g of fibre per portion making a very small contribution towards the dietary recommendation of 30g per day.
  • Food items which were aimed at children were especially concerning. On average, a children's portion of cheeseburger and chips contained 982 calories, 20.9g of saturated fat, and 3.4g of salt—equating to nearly 58% of the recommended daily calorie intake for a 7–10-year-old, 98% of the maximum daily saturated fat, and 68% of the recommended salt limit.
• Despite sampling the ‘standard’ sized portion, there were large variations recorded in the portion sizes for the same food items sampled across different outlets e.g., a portion of macaroni cheese ranged between 169g and 758g.
• Wide ranges in portion size, means a wide range in nutritional content, for example a portion of cheesecake ranged from 339 and 2196 calories.

This research complements and adds to existing evidence on the OOH environment. Food Standards Scotland will use the data from this report alongside other evidence to drive, influence and monitor public health nutrition policies aimed at improving the out of home environment and diet of the population in Scotland.