CSPI: Long John Silvers Serves Up Worst Meal in America

WASHINGTONThe Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is telling Long John Silver to walk the proverbial nutrition plant by releasing results of laboratory tests that found the fast-food chains Big Catch with Onion Rings meal contained nearly 16 times the recommended daily limit of trans fat.

CSPI said while the Big Catch only has 1,320 calories, it won the Worst Restaurant Meal in America" title because of its artery-clogging ingredients. The limited-time offer (LTO) meal, which consists of fried fish, hushpuppies and onion rings, has an 33 grams of trans fat from partially hydrogenated oil, 19 grams of saturated fat, nearly 3,700 milligrams of sodium.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that people limit themselves to about 2 grams of trans fat per dayor about as much as one might consume from naturally occurring trans fat in milk and meat. The Big Catch meal with onion rings has 16 times as much trans fat as AHA recommends.

Most major chains have stopped using partially hydrogenated oil altogether, in response to bad publicity, lawsuits, and local government restrictions on its use. In 2006, before a CSPI lawsuit prompted KFC to stop using partially hydrogenated oil to fry its chicken, the worst meal on the KFC menu had 15 grams of trans fatless than half the trans fat in the Big Catch with Onion Rings.

CSPI also said Long John Silvers website greatly overstates the amount of actual fish in the Big Catch meal, and greatly understates the amounts of trans fat and sodium in the side orders.

Its the largest fish we have ever offered, weighing in at 7 ounces to 8 ounces of 100% premium haddock caught in the icy waters of the North Atlantic," Long John Silvers executive Charles St. Clair stated in a press release. CSPI lab tests revealed the Big Catch contains about 4.5 ounces of actual fish, and nearly 3 ounces of batter.

While Long John Silvers claims its Hushpuppies have 3 grams of trans fat, CSPIs lab tests found 3.7 grams. The chain claims an order or onion rings contains 7 grams of trans fat, but lab tests found 19.5 grams of trans fat. Lab tests found another 10.4 grams of trans fat in the fried haddock. CSPI also found the chain understated saturated fat and sodium in the hushpuppies and onion rings.