Pizzas should be better labelled, says Which

Which?’s experts looked at 162 cheese and tomato and pepperoni pizzas available in the major supermarkets and takeaway chains. The results were surprising:

Frozen supermarket pizzas tended to be healthier than fresh versions – Morrisons frozen Thin and Crispy Pepperoni pizza had less fat, calories and salt than its fresh Thin and Crispy Pepperoni pizza.
Thin pizzas could be higher in fat and saturates than deep pan and stuffed crust pizzas. Tesco’s Italian Romana Margherita, with an ‘ultra thin’ base, contained twice as much fat and saturates per 100g as its Trattoria Verdi Deep Pan Cheese pizza.
Supermarket pizzas weren’t always healthier than those from takeaway chains. Dr Oetker’s Chicago Town Edge to Edge Thin & Crispy California Cheese contained more fat and saturates, gram for gram, than any of the cheese and tomato options, including those from Domino’s and Pizza Hut.
>One brand of pizza could contain up to three times more fat and salt than another brand with the same type of topping. Sainsbury’s fresh Basics Cheese & Tomato pizza had 5g saturated fat per 100g, while Tesco’s fresh Full-on-Flavour Cheese Feast Deep Crust Pizza had 14g.

Which? also found an enormous and often unrealistic range of portion sizes and different front-of-pack nutrition labelling schemes, even by the same manufacturer, making it very difficult to compare products.

Goodfella’s and Chicago Town were among the worst offenders for portion size, with most of those Which? looked at suggesting people would eat a quarter of a pizza, which the consumer champion considered to be unlikely. Some supermarket own-brand pizzas were also guilty of doing this.

Which? chief executive Peter Vicary-Smith says: “You can’t expect people to stand poring over pizza labels in the supermarket to see which one has more fat or salt in it. We want clear, front-of-pack labelling, including traffic light colours, and consistent portion sizes so people can easily compare like with like.”

Source: Which?