Wondering which meal has the highest calorie content in a U.S. restaurant today? The "Big Catch" fish platter at Long John Silver's is being called the "Worst Restaurant Meal in America."
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, says the dish has more than 1300 calories, 33 grams of trans fats and 3700 milligrams of sodium. The meal, which was added to the fast food chain's menu in May, consists of a large piece of breaded, fried haddock , hush puppies (fried cornmeal batter) and onion rings. But the amount of trans fat in the dish is really the issue for the CSPI, which says it is twice the level of the worst KFC dish, which had 15 grams of trans fat before a 2006 CSPI lawsuit led the chicken chain to stop using partially hydrogenated oil.
Consumers should limit themselves to two grams of trans fat daily, according to the American Heart Association, and most people should eat 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day, according to the Institute of Medicine.
"Long John Silver's Big Catch meal deserves to be buried 20,000 leagues under the sea," CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson said in a statement announcing the group's pick of worst restaurant meal in America.
"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."
The fish is battered and fried in partially hydrogenated soybean oil, and sold with onion rings and hush puppies. Its total calorie count is rather low for a fast food meal - just 1,320, CSPI said.
