Nutritional composition of takeaway meals served by independent small outlets

Eating out of the home is growing in popularity and about 22 % of Britons have been found to purchase foods from takeaway outlets at least once a week and 58 % a few times a month (1) . Foods prepared outside the home are generally considered to be high in energy, saturated and trans fatty acids, total fat and salt (2) . While previous studies have investigated the nutritional quality of food provided by fast food chains, there is still a lack of data regarding the nutrient composition of meals purchased from independent takeaway outlets.