Irish supermarkets stock the lowest-fat deli meats in Europe but also have yoghurts and desserts with some of the highest sugar content found anywhere in the EU.
A new report published by the European Commission on the nutrition quality of food products has revealed wide variations in the content of packaged food and beverages in relation to sugars, total and saturated fats, salt, fibre and protein.
It revealed that Ireland is one of only four European countries where sugar content of fresh dairy products has been increasing.
At the same time, however, soft drinks sold in Ireland now have some of the lowest sugar levels in Europe.
The study by the EU’s Joint Research Centre is believed to be the first large-scale overview of the nutritional quality of thousands of packaged foods across 21 countries in Europe.
It revealed large differences in the nutrient content displayed on labels of over 180,000 products with a focus on five key food categories – breakfast cereals, bread products, fresh dairy products and desserts, delicatessen meats and soft drinks.
Some 5,100 food and drink products from Ireland were examined including approximately 3,000 across the five main categories.
The analysis revealed that deli meats and similar products sold in Ireland have the lowest levels of both total fat and saturated fat content in Europe.
The average total fat content of such products in Ireland is 14.2g per 100g – well below the European average of 20.5g. The average saturated fat content is 5.3g – again well below the overall average of 7.8g.
However, some deli meats available here including pepperoni and pâté had some of the highest total fat content in Europe.
In contrast, bacon sold in Ireland had the lowest fat content levels of any similar product in Europe.
Ireland also had the 4th lowest average salt content for all deli-meats with the analysis highlighting decreasing levels of salt, fibre and protein in such products.
While the sugar content of fresh dairy products has been falling in Europe, the study found high total sugar levels in yoghurts and desserts sold in Ireland.
Artificially-sweetened yoghurts in Irish supermarkets had an average of 5.65g of sugar per 100g – the 3rd highest level in Europe.
The average sugar content in “dessert creams and jellied milks” in Ireland was the highest anywhere with 23.6 g of sugar.
Although the report found there has been a general increase in the salt content of fresh dairy products in recent years, Ireland was one of only three countries to buck the general trend with average salt content decreasing from 0.20g per 100g in 2016 to 0.14g in 2021 which is just above the European average.
Breakfast cereals sold in Ireland have a comparatively low average sugar content (14.35g) and low average salt content (0.35g per 100g) – which are both below the overall average across Europe.
The report found total fat and saturated fat content of breakfast cereals has been increasing in recent years with the highest levels found respectively in crunchy muesli with nuts and seeds and crunchy chocolate muesli.
Bread products were found to have increasing levels of total and saturated fats as well as sugar but a decreasing amount of salt, fibre and protein.
The analysis showed the nutrient content of bread products sold in the Republic was largely in keeping with European norms.
Researchers said the findings showed there is substantial variation in nutrient content both between and within countries as well as between products of the same category.
For example, sugar content ranges from 1g to 28g per 100g of breakfast cereals, while saturated fat content ranges from less than 1g to 14g per 100g of deli meats.
“Efforts by the industry to improve the nutrient composition of foods are ongoing. However, sometimes improvement in one nutrient – like sugars, salt, fat or fibre – is offset by a worsening of another,” the JRC said.
It highlighted how total sugars had decreased substantially across most countries for breakfast cereals in recent years as well as the salt content of bread products.
However, researchers found there has also been an increase in total and saturated fats in breakfast cereals over the same time period.
“Such high nutrient variability indicates that healthier alternatives already exist within the same category, demonstrating that improvement is feasible,” said the report’s authors.
They added: “Our findings show that reformulation is both possible and urgently needed.”
The study noted that many deli meats are so high in total fat and salt that consuming them could lead to exceeding daily intake recommendations.
Similarly, one 330ml can of cola and 40g of high-fibre fruit cereals already surpass more than twice the maximum recommended daily intake of free sugars.
The report said consuming one or more packaged products from certain food categories would contribute heavily towards surpassing daily intake recommendations of both the World Health Organization and the European Food Safety Authority.
It pointed out that unhealthy diets, which involve foods high in salt, sugar and fats and low in dietary fibre, increase the risk of non-communicable diseases.
Such illnesses which include cardiovascular diseases, obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer, accounted for more than 88% of deaths in the EU in 2023.
