Shocking findings on top takeaways

A study into two of the Britain’s favourite takeaways has revealed high levels of fat, salt, sugar and colourings along with bogus meat, according to council chiefs.

The analysis of Indian take-aways found that an average portion of chicken tikka masala and pilau rice contained 116 per cent of a person’s Guideline Daily Amount of saturated fat and 92 per cent of salt.

A similar investigation into Chinese takeaways discovered average sweet and sour chicken with fried rice with 119 per cent GDA of salt.

The Local Government Group study, which analysed food from 223 take-aways across England and Wales, also found illegally high levels of certain colourings which the Food Standards Agency has called for a voluntary ban on because of their negative effects on children. A spokesman said: “Were these pre-packaged meals they would have to carry a health warning advising consumers that they contained these colourings.”

In some of the tikka masala test buys, it was stressed that the customer had a nut allergy. Despite this, one in five of these takeaways contained peanuts or almonds. Just a small amount of nuts can be fatal for someone with a severe allergy. On two occasions the meat found in sweet and sour chicken meals was in fact turkey.