Tests reveal that restaurant dishes frequently consist of over twice the calorie count indicated on menus

Counting calories on menus can often lead us to choose healthier options. However, recent tests have shown that calorie counts listed on menus can be highly inaccurate.

Last year, regulations were put in place to require food outlets to disclose the number of calories in their dishes.

An experiment conducted by The Sunday Times in collaboration with the University of Greenwich’s food-testing laboratory found that the calorie counts on menus are often far from accurate.

The experiment involved purchasing 20 food samples from ten popular restaurant chains in the UK, including Pizza Express, Dishoom, Leon, and Las Iguanas. The food was then tested in the lab.

Mulling over the numbers could be a waste of time as restaurant dishes often contain more than double the calories stated on menus, according to tests

Only half of the food samples tested fell within the 20% margin of difference allowed between actual and stated calories. Some dishes contained significantly higher calories than listed, while others had significantly lower calories. For example, Dishoom’s ‘roomali roti’, a soft flatbread, contained 727 calories, more than three times the stated 236 calories. Las Iguanas’ nachos dish had 1,156 calories, despite the menu listing only 576.

Dr. Nazanin Zand, an associate professor in food and nutrition at the University of Greenwich, advises consumers to use the nutritional information on menus as rough estimates, rather than absolute values.

Dishoom explained that as a restaurant with chefs making dishes by hand, there may be some variation in portion sizes. Las Iguanas suggested that the portion size of the nachos dish tested was significantly larger than usual.