Six UK High Street Restaurants Sign Up to Healthy Eating

The companies have also described some specific projects they will be working on during 2009. Although these are different for each company, they share the same aim of helping their customers enjoy a healthier, more balanced diet.

21/11/08 Six leading UK high street restaurant chains – Burger King, KFC, McDonald's, Nando's, Subway and Wimpy – have announced a commitment to make changes in their restaurants, which support the Food Standard Agency’s activity to help people eat more healthily outside the home.

The companies have also described some specific projects they will be working on during 2009. Although these are different for each company, they share the same aim of helping their customers enjoy a healthier, more balanced diet. They include:

• working with suppliers to reduce salt and saturated fat levels in best-selling products
• swapping sauces, dressings and frying oils for alternatives that are lower in saturated fat
• increasing the number of healthier options on the menu
• making nutritional information more readily available to customers

Each company has agreed to provide a six month update to the Agency on the progress of this work.

Rosemary Hignett, Head of Nutrition at the Food Standards Agency said, “Eating out should be fun and we don't want to change that, but we believe restaurants can help make it easier for us to take healthier choices when dining out.”

“These companies' commitments, together with the positive work that many have been doing for a number of years, show just how much is possible. We hope that other restaurant chains will be able to emulate this exciting work.”

The Agency warmly welcomes these actions, which build upon commitments secured earlier this year from the UK's leading workplace caterers and their suppliers. This activity is already resulting in positive changes to more than 1.6 million meals served in the workplace every day.

The Agency is also working closely with the largest pub, family restaurant and coffee shop chains, to develop similar commitments.