It’s good that people are more aware of what they’re eating than they used to be.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has named Long John Silver’s limited-time-only Big Catch meal — the fried fish, hushpuppies and onion rings option — the worst restaurant meal in America, clocking in at 1,320 calories, 33 grams of trans fats and 3,700 milligrams of sodium.
The good news? That appears to be healthier than the worst offenders five years ago, at least as tabulated by Men’s Health magazine. Those included the Outback Steakhouse Aussie cheese fries with ranch dressing (2,900 calories), Uno Chicago Grill’s Chicago classic deep dish pizza (2,310 calories), and the dearly departed Chili’s Awesome Blossom, discontinued after the magazine named it the unhealthiest appetizer in America (2,710 calories).
Long John Silver’s, with five locations in New Jersey, still uses partially hydrogenated frying oil, which results in the high trans fat count, according to CSPI. The American Heart Association recommends only two grams of trans fats a day. The chain also misrepresents the amount of what it calls “lean” haddock in the dish, CSPI maintains. Long John Silver’s say the meal includes 7 to 8 ounces of fish, but after removing the breading from tfish, CSPI researchers found an average of about four and a half ounces of actual fish and almost three ounces of oil-soaked batter.
That is one deadly meal and one measly serving of fish.
