Popular pizzas red-rated for high levels of fat and salt

Published on Wednesday 23 September 2009 21:55

A CHEESE and tomato pizza can contain half an adult's recommended daily amount of salt and 70 per cent of a woman's intake of saturated fat, a report revealed yesterday.

A team of reviewers from the Good Food Guide examined margherita pizzas at six popular restaurant chains. Their findings found that being high in fat did not mean pizzas would be tastier.

The pizza with the lowest fat in the survey – found at Pizza Express – also scored the highest for taste at 30.5 out of 45.

But all six dishes were rated "red" according to the government traffic light system for saturated fat and salt.

The Pizza Hut "Italian-style margherita" was the smallest on average but also had the highest in total fat (28.99g) and also contained 70 per cent of a woman's daily recommended maximum amount of saturated fat.

The pizza at Zizzi had the highest level of salt (just over 4g), and Prezzo's the highest level of saturated fat (15.35g).

Pizza Hut and Frankie & Benny's scored the lowest with 11/45 for pizza taste and quality, and restaurant experience.