Tuesday, 01 July 2025
The purpose of this survey was to establish a 2024 benchmark of the nutrient content of children’s meals sold in Irish foodservice outlets e.g. restaurants, takeaway, public house.
To date, there has been a lack of nutrient composition information for children’s meals sold in the Irish foodservice sector. To address this, the aim of this survey was to determine the nutrient content (energy (calories)), saturated fat, total sugar and salt) of popular children’s meals sold in Irish foodservice outlets. In 2024, a convenience sample of children’s meals (n=84) were sampled from standalone restaurants, hotel restaurants, takeaways and pubs that serve food in County Dublin. Meals were analysed for their nutrient content using accredited laboratory analysis methods.
The survey findings revealed that the majority of meals were high in energy (calories), saturated fat, total sugar and salt and require reformulation. These findings were used to inform guiding principles to improve the nutrient quality of meals offered on children’s menus in Irish foodservice outlets. The out-of-home foodservice sector is asked to play its part in reducing children’s dietary intakes of energy (calories) and target nutrient content (saturated fat, sugar and salt), as outlined in the Roadmap for Food Product Reformulation in Ireland.
