Fast-food chains are lacing their meals with “shockingly high” levels of salt, an analysis has found.

Scientists studied hundreds of food and drink items and meal combinations at Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonald’s and Burger King. The saltiest was a Pizza Hut Pizza Plus for 4 family meal. The meal included a Super Supreme pizza, Cheesy Bites Meat Feast, chicken wings, garlic bread, potato wedges and cheesecake, at 49.1g of salt. This meant that each portion contained more than twice the daily intake recommended for an adult or four times the limit for a six-year-old child. Even if the child ate only a sixth of the meal, the salt intake would be 8.2g.

On its website, Pizza Hut gives nutritional information about its dishes and cites government guidelines that adults should eat no more than 6g of salt a day. But no such information is included in menus or leaflets at the point of sale. Similarly, KFC does not give nutritional information on its menus, so no one ordering a KFC Deluxe Boneless Box to share between four people would know that it contained 5.2g of salt per person — almost a whole day’s limit for an adult and more than the recommended maximum for any child under 10.

The saltiest children’s meal was a Pizza Hut Kids’ Chicken Wrap Factory plus soft drink. This meal contained 4.2g per portion. Next worst, with 3.5g, was a KFC Kids’ Mini Fillet burger meal with regular BBQ beans.

The best was a McDonald’s chicken Happy Meal with fruit bag and small cola, which had 0.6g. The children’s meal with the lowest salt content at Burger King was Kids’ Chicken Bites, which had 0.778g; at Pizza Hut it was the Kids’ Macaroni Cheese and soft drink (1g) and at KFC it was the Colonel’s Crispy Strip, Corn Cobette and Munch Bunch Yoghurt (1.3g).

Carrie Bolt, a researcher for Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash), which conducted the study, acknowledged that some outlets had low-salt options but said: “Most children going to McDonald’s or Burger King will ask for a burger or chicken nugget and fries. If they are taken to KFC they will want chicken and fries and at Pizza Hut will choose pizza.”

Most children’s burger meals contained 1.9g of salt, chicken nugget meals 1.5g and a typical pizza contained more than 2g.

Parents are advised to opt for meals without added cheese or bacon, which are high in salt, and be aware that milkshakes, cheesecake and muffins contain hidden salt. All standard meals at McDonald’s, and the majority at Burger King and KFC, had lower salt levels than Pizza Hut’s least salty meals.

Graham MacGregor, of Cash, said: “The salt levels in some of these meals are staggeringly high. How can these companies justify selling food that contains more than the maximum daily limit in a single meal?”

Alex Callaghan, of the British Heart Foundation, said: “Parents need to know that by taking their family for an innocent treat they could be giving them food loaded with hidden nasties.”

Pizza Hut said that it had reduced salt levels in its food. The survey focused on its most indulgent products and the findings contained inaccuracies.KFC said that it had cut salt by 30 per cent across its range and that it was the only fast-food chain to remove salt from chips, allowing customers to choose whether to add salt.

Salt raises blood pressure, and this can lead to heart disease, heart attacks and strokes. Children can develop a taste for salty food that will last into adulthood.

Maximum intakes

Babies >1g

1 to 3 years 2g

4 to 6 years 3g

7 to 10 years 5g

11 to adult 6g

Source: Food Standards Agency

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