'HEALTHY' LUNCH THAT'S FATTY AS 7 CREME EGGS; Survey's dressing down for salads '.

Byline: RUKI SAYID

SALADS bought from shops may not be such a healthy option after one was found to have nearly as much fat as SEVEN creme eggs.

Asda's pounds 2 Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad contained 41.3g of fat - almost two-thirds the recommended daily amount for women and nearly half that for men.

Nearly a quarter of the salad was made up of high-calorie dressing containing 13% mayonnaise and 10% Caesar dressing.

Morrisons' pounds 1.49 Smedleys Atlantic Prawn Marie Rose Salad had 855 calories and 66.3g of fat - more than a Big Mac and fries.

Which? editor Martyn Hocking said: "If you think your high street salad is healthy, you could be in for a surprise.

"Check the label or you could end up with egg on your face."

The watchdog tested 20 prepacked salads from high street stores. More than a quarter had high levels of mayonnaise.

Which? also blasted stores for unhelpful labelling. Sainsbury's pounds 2.95 Basil Chicken Salad claimed to contain no mayonnaise.

But the ingredients list showed it had egg yolk, oil and white wine vinegar - the same as mayo.

Which? wants food firms to use one label so shoppers can see at a glance levels of fat, sugar and salt.

The Food Standards Agency said a combined label including traffic light colours, guideline daily amounts, and the words "high", "medium" and "low" works best.

Morrisons, which sells 1.5million salads a week, said: "The salad Which? selected is a branded product and not representative of the vast majority of our salads."

Asda said it used the traffic light system. It added: "Customers can see which salads are healthy."

SCOUSERS eat the most junk food in the UK, averaging six chocolate bars or cakes, six biscuits, four packets of crisps, a takeaway, ready-meal and nine alcoholic and fizzy drinks a week, an online poll found.

PASTA SALAD 41.3G FAT

7 CREME EGGS 42G FAT

PRAWN SALAD 66.3G FAT

BIG MAC AND FRIES 21.4G FAT

CAPTION(S):

'CHECK LABELS' Hocking