Nutrition in kids’ meals fails probe

An inspection of children’s meals at various chain restaurants found that none met nutritional requirements, the Consumer Protection Committee said.

The committee said nutritionists from Taipei City’s Gandau Hospital inspected 18 children’s meals from chain restaurants, comparing the food with the daily nutrition standard set for first to third graders.

They analyzed the total calories, fats, sugar, sodium and nutritional balance — meals made up of meat, beans, fish, eggs and dairy products, fruit and vegetables — in each meal.

The calories in 15 meals exceeded the recommended calorie intake per meal for children — 670 calories.

The meal containing the most calories was nearly the maximum recommended daily intake suggested for first to third graders — 1,650 to 2,100 calories.

“Of the 18 restaurants inspected, five are affiliated with Wowprime Corp and the calories from a kids’ meal at Tasty is about the amount of a child’s daily calorie intake,” senior consumer ombudsman Wang Te-ming (王德明) said, adding that Tasty’s children’s meal contained 1,699 calories.

An analysis of total fats, sugar and sodium showed that each venue had 15 meals that exceed recommended daily intake.

A meal at Goodday Mexican restaurant contained fats that were 4.5 times (98.7g) the recommended amount for children; and the same meal contained 2,300mg of sodium, about the same as the recommended maximum sodium intake per day for an adult,” Wang said.

A children’s meal at Swensen’s contained the highest amount of sugar — 42.7g, exceeding the recommended amount of no more than 8.375g per meal for children.

In terms of nutritional balance, 10 meals provided excessive beans, meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, 17 meals provided insufficient vegetables and 10 meals lacked fruit.

“Only 10 restaurants included fruit in their children’s meals and only seven provided juice, which might cause excessive sugar intake if the juice is concentrated,” ombudsman Chang Yu-ling (張羽伶) said.

She said three restaurants have already modified their menus after the inspection, and another five restaurants affiliated with Wowprime said they would modify their menus after the Lunar New Year holiday.

Parents should order food rather than choose set meals for children, and to be aware of excessive intake of fats, sugar and sodium, Wang said.

Chang said if children eat too much in one meal, parents should adjust the amount of their food at other meals that day.