Members at November’s Environmental Services Committee were presented with the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) recently-published “Traybakes: nutritional analysis and consumer views on portion size” report, which the council’s Environmental Health Department contributed to through participation in a sampling survey.
In their research FSA and local council Environmental Health teams in Northern Ireland collected 59 traybake samples for nutritional analysis.
“The traybake types sampled – Fifteens, Rocky Roads and Caramel Squares – were generally high in energy (between 230kcal and 1,026kcal per portion), saturated fat, and total sugar, while some traybakes contained more than the maximum amount of saturated fat and sugar recommended per day,” an officers’ report noted.
“Consumer perceptions of small, medium and large traybake portions and purchasing attitudes were investigated and almost half (43 percent) of [focus group] participants reported consuming traybakes once per week.
“The largest portion size of each traybake type was the least preferred option by participants [and] participants reported that displaying nutritional information on packs may help influence their choices.
“Consumer preference for smaller portion sizes of traybake products presents a reformulation opportunity that could be used by food businesses to produce smaller options that are lower in calories, saturated fat and sugar.”
The results of a report on traybakes were “frightening”
News Catch Up – Friday 14 November
UUP councillor Richard Holmes said the report’s findings were “frightening”.
“I’m sure everybody here has consumed their fair share of traybakes,” Councillor Holmes added. “But I think one was recorded is over a thousand calories or something, [equivalent to] a pizza.”
“I’m not sure how they do restrict portion size, whether it’s in terms of volume or calorific content, but we probably should be responding.”
Director of Environmental Services, Aidan Mc Peake, said some of the figures presented were “staggering”, but said members had only been asked to note the report and were not asked to respond to it.
He concluded: “We’re not aware of [any] consultation as such, but we will follow up just in case there was something that we may have missed there.”