Nutritionist slams leading pub chain for its unethical menu
A burger containing 1966 calories, 98 per cent of a woman’s Guideline Daily Amount, has been launched by pub-restaurant chain Hungry Horse, prompting a nutritionist to question the ethics of the family-friendly organisation.
The Double Donut Burger, launched as part of a brand-new Hungry Horse menu last month, comes with the tag line ‘So Wrong It’s Right’ and includes two beef burgers topped with melted cheese, 4 smoked streaky bacon rashers & BBQ sauce served in two grilled, glazed ring donuts.
Mel Wakeman, Senior Lecturer in Applied Physiology at Birmingham City University said: “Hungry Horse obviously have no conscience and no doubt both their wallet and the size of their customers will be getting fatter by the week!”
Customers need to log online to access the menu’s nutritional information and it is here they will discover that the deadly bargain burger contains 53g of saturated fat, well over double the 20g daily allowance for women and children and 8.2g of salt (it is recommended that adults should have no more than 6g a day).
“To me, this is simply ludicrous and irresponsible. I am no killjoy but why is this sort of food available? This burger is literally a heart attack on a plate” claims nutritionist Mel Wakeman.
“Hungry Horse kindly put all the Guideline Daily Amounts for men, women and children on their nutritional information but then what? The responsibility is then ours to find this information in the first place, interpret it and then decide if we should eat it (whilst being bribed with vouchers for cheap side dishes, free desserts and gold card points).
“Why can’t they include on the menu what the customer would need to do to burn all those calories off? In the case of this Double Donut Burger, around three hours of continuous running should just about do it. I wonder how many people would still opt for the item knowing this.”
Described on their Facebook page as ‘bizarre but brilliant’ the burger comes in at £8.99 and is part of a seemingly more American-style menu; which includes Chicken New Yorker Batons, a 20 Onion Ring Horseshoe Stacker, Crispy Battered Jalapeños and Cookie Dough Cheesecake.
Mel added; “This so-called family friendly pub chain offers a huge range of highly processed food that is entirely unhealthy. Taking the children to an eatery like this will guarantee we continue to reinforce unhealthy eating habits, contribute to the obesity epidemic and increase the risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease and type 2 diabetes at an earlier age.”
Founded in 1995, Hungry Horse is a chain of 220 pubs around the UK, promoting itself as offering an extensive variety of food at low prices for families and groups.