Holiday attractions fall down on kids meals

It's a bit of a bugbear for parents trying their best to feed their kids healthy meals. You do what you can at home, but the minute you're in a theme park, zoo or other family attraction, all that's on offer is chips, chips and more chips.

Now a local government group, LACORS (Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services), has issued the results of a massive survey into the meals families are offered at summer attractions – and the news is dire. Not one of the 397 meals it tested from 220 leisure fully met the guidelines from the Schools Food Trust on healthy meals for children.

The survey found that almost every meal came with chips or another form of fried potato and in most cases the meat was also deep fried. On average, the meals they tested contained 10% more fat and 44% more salt than is recommended.

LACORS' chairman Geoffrey Theobald, said: 'There are no easy answers but unless action is taken by producers, marketing and advertising companies, and the outlets that sell this food, Britain will continue its slide towards the unwanted title of fat capital of the world,'

In response, a spokesperson for the leisure attractions tradee said: 'Our members have made great efforts in recent years to make sure that there is healthy food available wherever possible. Very often, parents will choose something different from the normal eating regime at home on a day out like this, and there is nothing wrong with this.'

What do you think? Have you found healthy meals on offer when you take the kids on a day out? Tell us here.

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