More than 2000 family restaurants have committed to a healthy eating drive aimed at health by stealth for children.
Several chains, including Pizza Express, Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza and Café Rouge, will hide vegetables in children’s dishes.
The move involves large changes in menus to reduce the salt, calories, fat and sugar contained in their most popular dishes in a drive to tackle obesity, as well as ‘hiding’ vegetables.
The move hopes to counter problems in getting children to eat vegetables and make them see healthy food as more appealing.
The proposals are part of a wider initiative by the government's Food Standards Agency (FSA).
Strada and Bella Italia, as part of the Tragus group, have also signed up to the drive which, in some restaurants, will include calorie counts on menus.
Pizza Express has already launched its Leggera pizza with a hole in the middle filled with salad, which has fewer than 500 calories and less than 5g fat per portion, as well as a new Insalata Verde - a salad of fine green beans and sugarsnap peas on rocket, fresh mint and baby spinach.
The slimming organisation Weight Watchers is to trial its meetings in Pizza Express restaurants.
Angharad Massie of Weight Watchers said: “We wanted to show that watching what you eat doesn’t mean compromising on quality and taste or avoiding your favourite foods. Pizzas are traditionally thought of as being a no go areas for dieters - this is not the case.
“Our meetings in Pizza Express restaurants will run as normal and include a confidential weigh-in and diet and lifestyle advice, including how to enjoy favourite foods and still lose weight. Eating out doesn’t mean sacrificing good results at the scales.”
An FSA spokesman said: “A lot of the changes will offer the customer health benefits without them even realising, for example, lower salt meat on pizzas or lower fat cheeses or oils.
'”A number of healthier dishes have already been trialled extensively by some of the companies before being introduced."
No comments yet