Britain’s Largest Coffee And Sandwich Chains To Introduce Healthier Menus
Britain’s Largest Coffee And Sandwich Chains To Introduce Healthier Menus
A new healthy eating campaign will see chains such as Starbucks, Pret A Manger, Greggs, Costa, Eat lower the salt and fat content in their products.
The voluntary scheme launched by the Food Standards Agency, (FSA) encourages the chains to pledge individual initiatives to improve the nutritional value of their food and drink.
BB’s and Café Nero will also take part in the campaign which will see each of the individual companies evaluated by the FSA every six months.
Pret A Manger will be the first to start the initiative, by labelling the calories on each of their products. The chain have been highly criticised in the past due to their high mayonnaise content, with some sandwiches reaching 500 calories or more.
Pret are keen to encourage healthy eating and will also reduce the salt content in their soups and introduce more half-size “slim-Pret” sandwiches.
Currently, a coffee and muffin at Starbucks, Costa, BB’s and Nero can cover up to half of an adult’s daily calorie allowance. The chains have agreed to look at the content of their products in hope to see where healthier changes can be made.
By September this year, Starbucks aims to reduce the sodium and fat levels in ten of their most popular products and display the calorie content on their products.
Pies from Greggs will see all hydrogenated fats and artificial colours and flavours be removed by June 2010.
Eat have decided to post the calorie content of their food online and lower the sodium content on its entire product range.
Coffee shop takeaway menus account for a quarter of the average UK adult residents’ daily calorie content. The campaign has been launched after Government figures revealed that by 2050, 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 25 per cent of children will be obese.
A similar campaign has been launched by the FSA to improve the product content of fast food chains such as, MacDonalds, Burger King, KFC and Subway.
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