Kebabs slammed for salt and fat content

The study, published by Local Authority Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS), was carried out by food standards officers across the country. Officers sampled 494 doner kebabs, checking meat content, labelling and nutritional value and found that the average kebab, without salad and sauces, contains 98% of the daily salt allowance, nearly 1,000 calories and 148% of daily saturated fat.

The study also found mislabelling of kebab meat, with meat species not declared or declared wrongly. In some instances, pork was present in samples labelled as Halal.

The Food Standards Agency's chief scientist Andrew Wadge said: "We welcome this new study. It is important that people are properly informed about the food they eat. However, our advice is that people don't need to avoid doner kebabs altogether because of these findings.

"As part of a balanced diet, including plenty of fruit, vegetables and starchy foods, there is no reason why you can't indulge in a doner kebab from time to time. Obviously, the more regularly you eat them the harder it is to achieve that healthy balanced diet.

"The mislabelling is obviously a concern and we will be working with these food businesses and local authority food enforcement officers to make sure that the correct labelling information is used on the meat."

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