'Pizza Hut serves up saltiest meals'

Pizza Hut has been named the worst fast food chain for high salt levels by the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash).

A family of four sharing one "meal deal" would each eat 12.3g of salt - nearly 2.5 times the recommended daily maximum for seven to ten-year-olds.

Cash researchers surveyed 346 individual food and drink items and 264 advertised meal combinations at Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonald's and Burger King.

Of these, 21 menu items and 48 meal combinations were aimed specifically at children.

The saltiest children's meal deal was a Pizza Hut kids' chicken "wrap factory" plus soft drink at 4.3g of salt per portion - 142 per cent of a four to six-year-old's daily maximum.

A KFC kids' mini fillet burger meal was the second saltiest children's option at 3.5g per portion.

The Pizza Hut "pizza plus" meal for four worked out as having the highest salt content per person per portion at 12.3g.

The children's meal with the lowest salt content was a McDonald's Happy Meal of chicken nuggets and a fruit bag at just 0.6g.

The majority of advertised standard sized meal deals at Burger King and KFC had lower levels of salt than the least salty options advertised by Pizza Hut.

All of the McDonald's standard sized meal deals had lower levels of salt than the pizza chain's meals.

Commenting on the findings, Cash chairman Professor Graham MacGregor said: "It is over four years since the maximum daily limits for salt were established for adults and children and yet this survey shows that the salt levels in some of these meals are staggeringly high."

Eating too much salt is linked to increased blood pressure which in turn can cause strokes and heart attacks.

The recommended maximum daily intake for salt is 6g for adults; 5g per day for children aged seven to 10; 3g per day for four to six-year-olds and 2g per day for one to three-year-olds.

A Pizza Hut spokesman said: "As well as focusing on our most indulgent products, this report also contains many factual inaccuracies.

"Every sensible parent knows that Pizza Hut is an enjoyable treat and we have significantly reduced the salt levels in our products over the past few years."

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