The fat content of meals provided by catering establishments.

Abstract

A study of the food input and food waste from 38 catering establishments varying from hospital and school meals to hotels and commercial restaurants has shown that on average 46 per cent of the dietary energy of the food consumed was derived from fat. Moreover, a strong positive correlation (P less than 0.001) was found between the percentage energy derived from fat, and the total energy obtained from the food consumed. A similar pattern is shown when the results are broken down according to the category of catering establishments. Meals provided by hotels, restaurants and public houses have the highest fat content (60 per cent of energy) and the highest total energy consumed (6.8 MJ per person per meal), whereas meals served by welfare establishments have the lowest fat content and lowest total energy per meal.