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Supermarket ready-meals are ‘nutritionally chaotic’, according to a study by scientists at the University of Glasgow which calls for improvements to be made.

Researchers led by Professor Mike Lean, Chair of Nutrition in the School of Medicine, looked at four different ready-meals across four different ranges at the five major UK supermarket chains of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury, Morrisons and the Co-op.

The energy contents of macaroni cheese, lasagne, cottage pie and chicken tikka masala ready-meals across the healthy, value, normal and special ranges, where available, were examined. In addition, the nutritional information for energy, salt, sugar and saturated fat levels in the different meals and ranges from Tesco were examined in more detail.

The researchers determined the acceptable energy content of a ‘meal’ should be 500-700kcal – around 30 per cent of the Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) for a woman as specified by the Food Standards Agency. For the meal to be nutritionally-balanced, 30 per cent of the GDA should be present for all other nutrients.

The results varied widely: of the 67 ‘meals’ tested, almost half (32) did not contain enough calories to constitute a meal, while others (10) had over 700kcal.

Tesco’s Chicken Tikka and Korma with rice contains 1,395kcal per serving, with 98 per cent GDA for saturated fat and 80 per cent GDA for salt, while its ‘value’ Shepherd’s Pie only has 210kcal per serving.

In many cases, the various supermarkets’ special or finest ranges contain 80-100 per cent GDA for saturated fat. The ready-meals chosen were all sold as ‘meals’ with no instructions to add any other ingredients in order to achieve nutritional balance. Some packaging even showed vegetables which were not included in the ready-meal.

Prof Lean said: “A consumer with some understanding of nutrition and GDAs might realise these meals are unsuitable for normal or regular consumption, however, a manufacturer could easily modify the recipes to satisfy nutritional criteria without reference to the retailer or consumer.

“There is little justification for providing nutritionally unbalanced meals if they can be improved and remain attractive and affordable.”

The UK ready-meal market is worth more than £26 billion annually but regular consumption of convenience foods has been associated with less healthy diets, obesity and as well as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

Prof Lean proposes steps to establishing agreed nutritional standards for ready-meals, including:

• Establishing a sensible size for all meals unless labelled otherwise (i.e. a notional standard of 600kcal) with a sensible range of +/- 100kcal,
• Assuring the public that, unless otherwise stated, all meals are nutritionally balanced for all nutrients – i.e. same GDA as for energy,
• Establishing agreement that no meal should contain more than 10 per cent GDA above the per cent GDA for energy, salt or saturated fat,
• Ensuring that all caterers have basic training in nutrition and use of nutrient-content tables,
• Agreeing to independent random checking of nutrient content of meals.

Prof Lean said: “Perceptions of busy lifestyles and time-scarcity have resulted in a shift away from traditional family meals towards convenience foods, but these are often high in dietary fat, calories and sodium and low in fruits, vegetables, fibre, calcium and iron.

“Generating simple standards for ready-meals would cost little, upset few and would help consumers. The need for food manufacturers to consider nutrition should be pretty obvious by now.”

The study, ‘Time-scarcity, ready-meals, ill-health and the obesity epidemic’ is published in the journal Trends in Food Science & Technology.

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For more information contact Stuart Forsyth in the University of Glasgow Media Relations Office on 0141 330 4831 or email stuart.forsyth@glasgow.ac.uk

 

Notes to Editors

Click on the link for a copy of the paper, Celnik, D, Gillespie, L, Lean, M., Time-scarcity, ready-meals, ill-health and the obesity epidemic, Trends in Food Science & Technology (2012), doi: 10.1016/j.tfs.2012.06.001

Professor Lean and entrepreneur Donnie Maclean of Eat Balanced recently demonstrated the relative ease of making foods healthier by creating nutritionally-balanced pizzas. The story was reported on BBC News Online - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-18663969

The Food Standards Agency recommends energy consumption should be spread over four eating occasions:

Breakfast – 20% of daily energy intake

Lunch – 30%

Evening meal – 30%

Snacks – 20%

 

Extracts from paper:

 

Table 3. Energy contents (kcal) of four common ready-meals in five major UK supermarkets

 

Range	Asda	Tesco	Sainsbury	Morrisons	CO-OP
Macaroni cheese
Healthy	352	271	352	471	–
Value/economy	366	410	466	457	–
Normal	400	765	755	720	500
Special	744	735	–	–	–
Lasagne
Healthy	433	425	319	381	335
Value/economy	366	340	381	393	330
Normal	476	554	600	–	515
Special	410	427	589	715	570
Cottage pie
Healthy	200	375	349	300	360
Value/economy	267	270	219	235	275
Normal	478	585	461	–	395
Special	590	440	371	446	455
Chicken tikka masala
Healthy	366	415	400	300	345
Value/economy	–	585	–	–	–
Normal	731	875	552	771	525
Special	–	835	652	827	–

  

Table 4. Nutritional information expressed as % Guideline Daily Amounts per serving provided to consumers by one major supermarket (Tesco).

 

%GDA	Healthy/light	Value/economy	Normal	Special
Macaroni cheese
Portion size (g)	200	300	400	450
Energy	14	21	38	37
Sugars	−3	3	4	9
Fat	21	24	46	44
Saturated fat	44	54	91	90
Salt	−9	30	22	43
Lasagne
Portion size (g)	400	300	400	700
Energy	21	17	28	21
Sugars	8	4	8	7
Fat	18	22	40	28
Saturated fat	32	39	74	33
Salt	33	33	42	37
Cottage pie/Shepherd's pie
Portion size (g)	450	300	450	430
Energy	19	11	29	22
Sugars	4	<1	1	<1
Fat	10	14	41	27
Saturated fat	15	18	63	39
Salt	25	25	42	52
Chicken tikka masala
Portion size (g)	400	400	550	500
Energy	21	29	44	42
Sugars	7	14	22	12
Fat	9	35	54	54
Saturated fat	14	41	67	68
Salt	22	37	58	50

Precise contents of these and other meals may vary over time. Current data available http://www.tesco.com/. Several different compositions are listed for the same meal in some cases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First published: 10 July 2012