A battered seafood dish in the US has been crowned the country’s worst-ever fast food meal, with health officials describing it as a “heart attack on a hook”. The Long John Silver’s Big Catch meal (pictured) contains a whopping 3700 milligrams of sodium and 33 grams of trans fat, which is fourteen times more than the recommended daily intake. So how does a typical seafood basket in Australia compare?
On the surface, battered seafood seems to be a slightly healthier option than most takeaway food — after all, those critters are supposed to be chock-full of protein and vitamins.
However, once it’s been encased in batter and chucked in the deep fryer, any health benefits have been obliterated in a tidal wave of fatty oil. In the case of the Long John Silver’s Big Catch, the dish was found to contain almost the same amount of oil-soaked batter as actual seafood.
According to the fitness app My Fitness Pal, an average takeaway seafood basket with a side of hot chips contains 3862 kilojoules, 46 grams of fat and 1162 milligrams of sodium.
A Red Rooster Seafood Basket, meanwhile, contains 2912 kilojoules, 35 grams of fat and 894 milligrams of sodium. All of these figures are pretty high for a single meal — especially if you add sauce, salt and soft drink to the equation.
By contrast, an entire Domino’s Chef’s Best Deli Vege & Camembert pizza — which is typically shared between two people — comes in at 3954kj, 33g of fat and 1554mg of sodium. To be fair, a seafood basket does contain more protein than a pizza, but there are obviously better ways to get your protein fix.
While most people are aware that battered seafood isn’t particularly healthy, it’s interesting to see just how unhealthy it is. On the plus side, most fish ‘n’ chips shops are happy to grill your seafood upon request which cuts down on the harmful oils significantly.
[Via New.com.au]
See also: Why Takeaway Burgers Can Be Healthier Than Takeaway Salads| Takeaway Truth | What Is Australia’s Favourite Takeaway Food?
Comments
19 responses to “Seafood Basket: The World’s Unhealthiest Takeaway Food?”
I think you missed a few instances of “milli” infront of some grams there Chris. I’d be somewhat concerned if an average takeaway seafood basket contained more than a kilo of sodium.
Right y’are. Fixed.
“and 1162 grams of sodium”
Is it fixed? If you would like to hire me as a sub-editor I am available……………. 😛
The CMS doesn’t always update immediately. The correction should appear sooner or later.
Oops sorry.
Thanks for checking the comments! Means a lot! 🙂
^^ This. Angus could learn a thing or two from you in this regard.
“In the case of the Long John Silver’s Big Catch, the dish was found to contain almost the same amount of oil-soaked batter as actual seafood.”
What on earth does this sentence mean? I honestly have no idea….
It means that the dish contained similar volumes of batter and seafood (i.e. – the stuff that’s not batter)
Pah! Amateurs! I’ll soon be going back home on holiday to the land where we *really* know how to make food unhealthy – Scotland. Deep fried pizza followed by a deep fried Mars bar, all washed down with a bottle of Irn Bru anyone? 🙂
So how do crumbed and grilled fish and chips actually compare?
Crumbed is generally pretty bad, about 190 calories and 8g of fat for a 100g serve (compared to 229 calories and 12.7g of fat for a comparable serve of battered fish). Same serving of grilled fish is much better at about 129 calories and 3g of fat. Of course, that’s heavily dependent on where you get it. Some places will grill it with liberal amounts of oil or butter, which changes the numbers considerably.
Yeah, it doesn’t seem like a huge decrease, it’s still by no means healthy then… But the thing with grilled fish is that you reach a point where you might as well prepare it yourself at home. Atleast you can make sure it’s cooked in a healthy way. Although I guess that defeats the “fast food” label :p
… god that looks delicious heh!
Agreed! I’ll take two!
No Kristy kremes would be the unhealthiest.
dunno but https://www.facebook.com/kristy.kremes doesnt look that unhealthy to me
I steam my salmon with fresh veggies, it beats this thing, whatever it is.
Probably McDonald’s meal pretending to be fish dish.
It kinda depends on the oil they use as well.
The coleslaw doesnt help…
I think the biggest joke is that they put 2 (assuming those balls are scallops) seafood items on a plate and call it a ‘seafood basket’
So what if I don’t share my Domino’s Chef’s Best camembert pizza..