Worst Meal in America: Long John Silver's 'Big Catch' Platter is Unhealthy, 'Just Plain Piracy,' Says Group
The worst meal in America is Long John Silver's "Big Catch" fish platter, according to reports. The meal was deemed one of the worst offenders when it comes to customers' health and wellness, a consumer advocacy group said.
The worst meal in America designation was created by The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group looking to save potential customers from ingesting unhealthy food. Long John Silver's fish platter, the Big Catch, has too much trans fat, not enough real fish, and far more calories than it should for such a cheap meal- it runs only $4.99.
"Long John Silver's Big Catch meal deserves to be buried 20,000 leagues under the sea," CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson said in a press release. "This company is taking perfectly healthy fish-and entombing it in a thick crust of batter and partially hydrogenated oil. The result? A heart attack on a hook. Instead of the Big Catch, I'd call it America's Deadliest Catch."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Their researchers found that the meal, which consists of fried fish, onion rings and hushpuppies, has a whopping 33 grams of trans fat, which is over a week's worth of the stuff for many adults.
"It is outrageous that Long John Silver's foods are still loaded witrh artificial trans fat and that the FDA still permits it in foods," Walter C. Willet, chair of the nutrition department at Harvard's School of Health, said.
Although there are some fast food meals with more calories- the Big Catch has 1,300- the 3,700 milligrams of sodium certainly doesn't help. Furthermore, the restaurant is being accused of deception by claiming their fish is "7 ounces to 8 ounces of 100-percent premium haddock caught in the icy waters of the North Atlantic"- CSPI found only 4.5 ounces of fish on average and 3 ounces of batter.
"It's more like 60 percent haddock, and 40 percent batter and grease," Jacobson said. "Nutrition aside, that's just plain piracy."
CSPI threatened to sue the restaurant chain if they didn't improve their food standards, but Long John Silver said in a press release that they would be willing to share all nutrition information if necessary.
