HOW would you fancy eating this forkful of lard? That is exactly what you are doing when you have a kebab, the Evening Star can reveal today.Kebabs sold across Suffolk can each contain a massive amount of hidden fat – the extent of which has been revealed by trading standards officers, who discovered it by doing undercover tests.

HOW would you fancy eating this forkful of lard? That is exactly what you are doing when you have a kebab, the Evening Star can reveal today.

Kebabs sold across Suffolk can each contain a massive amount of hidden fat – the extent of which has been revealed by trading standards officers, who discovered it by doing undercover tests.

When samples of doner kebabs were bought and sent away for analysis, one was found to be brimming with 38 per cent fat.

One 196g kebab was crammed with 78g of fat - more than the recommended daily limit for a woman of 70g. The advised limit for a man is 95g fat.

The lowest fat content was 25pc - still making up a quarter of the kebab.

Kebab houses in Ipswich, Felixstowe, Woodbridge, Brandon and Lowestoft were put to the test. The samples were collected during a four-month period last year, and analysed by food experts at Norwich.

Although no food safety regulations were broken by the establishments surveyed, trading standards officers suspect people may be shocked by the findings.

Roger Hopkins assistant trading standards officer today spoke out in a bid to enlighten consumers.

He said: "I enjoy a kebab myself from time to time, and for some people who are not trying to control their food intake, our findings will not be an issue.

"But Suffolk County Councils works on behalf of the consumer and we can check things they can't. People are becoming more and more aware of what they eat. People take greater care about food intolerances and controlling their intake, and they can't make an informed decision about what to eat if they don't know what is in the product.

"One of the things we will be considering in future, is whether regulations should be changed to make sure food sold loose and takeaway food is labelled.

"A full range of information is available to supermarket customers if they want to read the labels, but it can be very difficult to know the fat content of a kebab, or fish and chips as that information does not need to be provided yet."

At Ipswich Hospital, chief community dietician Kathryn Sutton said: "Eating too much fat puts you at greater risk of heart disease" - which is one of the country's biggest killers.

"The more fat you eat, the more likely you are to put on weight which can lead to health problems. It all depends on how often you eat these things. An occasional splurge is not going to do any harm, but the problem comes if you habitually eat high fat content foods with no fruit and vegetables."

She said chicken or cubed meat would be a leaner option than a doner kebab, but chips from a chip shop still contained 37pc fat.

Even Chinese food which has not been deep fried, would be a better option to choose after a night on the town.

www.uk250.co.uk/healthfood

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