Nutritional content of ready-to-eat meals sold in groceries in Hungary

The purpose of this study is to compare the energy, macronutrients, sugar, and salt content of ready-to-eat meals sold in the leading supermarkets and grocery stores in Hungary with the nutritional guidelines published by the World Health Organization (WHO). The nutritional contents of 177 ready-to-eat meals at different brands and packaged in different packaging materials were collected from the leading supermarkets in Hungary, relying on the nutritional information on the meals' packages and classified based on gastronomy to traditional Hungarian and innovative meals. No ready-to-eat meals fully complied with the WHO recommendations. The traditional Hungarian meals were more likely to comply with the recommended energy derived from protein (27.9% v 13.7% p = 0.025). The innovative meals were more likely to comply with the recommended energy derived from fat (30.1% v 15.4% p = 0.019 and carbohydrate (32.9% v 2.9% p < 0.001). In general, ready-to-eat meals tend to be high in fat, saturated fatty acids, protein, sodium, low energy and carbohydrate, and acceptable sugar content. Further research should investigate the micronutrient content and the essential role of such meals in people's diets and focus on interventions leading to improve the meals' nutritional profile as a whole.