Supermarket salads on a par with a Big Mac

A study has discovered some supermarket salads contain more calories than a McDonald’s Big Mac and fries.

The consumer organisation Which? compared a selection of 20 pre-packed salads on the high-street and found a number contained up to 70 per cent of a male’s fat intake for an entire day.

Among the worst offenders was the Smedley’s Atlantic Prawn Marie Rose Salad at Morrisons, which contained 855 calories and had 66.3 grams of fat – more than a McDonald’s Big Mac and medium fries.

Not far behind was the Asda Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad (£2), which contains nearly as much fat as six Cadbury’s Creme eggs.

Martyn Hocking, editor at Which?, said: “If you thought your high-street salad was healthy, you could be in for a surprise. Which? has found that there were large differences between the amount of fat, saturated fat, salt and calories in pre-packaged salads.

“This latest research backs up what we’ve been saying for ages – a clear, consistent labelling scheme is important to help people spot how much fat, sugar and salt is in the food they’re buying.”

Mayonnaise was often the main perpetrator for salads having a high calorie content, with mayo dressing being the second highest ingredient in an M&S Pasta with Tomato and Basil Chicken salad (27 per cent).