Butter chicken passes cardiac test

Some butter chicken meals have been given the "tick" by the Heart Foundation based on the fat in 100g servings.

The traditional Indian meal is very high in total fat - as much as 40 per cent.

The Heart Foundation says the ticked butter chicken and other Indian/Asian prepared meals have been approved because the fat content has been reduced to meet the programme's nutrition criteria.

The tick programme aims to improve the food supply and encourage consumers to make healthier choices.

Three butter chicken manufacturers, Pam's, Irvine's and Tandoori Palace, have approval to use the foundation's tick on some of their ready meal products.

The Heart Foundation criteria for the tick was based on 100g portions, not the full packets, said Ian Mathieson, manager of the foundation's Pick the Tick programme.

However, consumers buying ready meals (average size of 270g to 400g), would usually eat the whole packet and not just 100g.

And ticked total fat and saturated fat levels per serving were high - between 5g and 16g and 1.6g and 5.9g respectively.

Christchurch dietitian Janice Bremer said saturated fat levels in ready meals should not be measured by the 100g weight measure.

"It would be more appropriate if it were based on calories [kilojoules] intake."

For ready meals, giving the tick based on a per serve and kilojoules content would make more sense than on 100g, she said.

Ms Bremer recommends 3g or less of saturated fat for every 1500 to 2000 kilojoules.

She was surprised butter chicken had got the tick.

"Obviously the manufacturer concerned has watered down the fat [butter and cream] content in the food."

In which case, she said the manufacturer should change butter chicken to some other name - reducing the butter and cream content in the food to satisfy Heart Foundation nutrition criteria made the food anything but butter chicken.

Two butter chicken fans agree.

Wellington jeweller Jim Blair said it was odd that the ready meal had the tick approval.

"The food is naturally high in fat, especially in saturated fat. It is the butter content in the meal that makes it delicious."

Aviation consultant Logan Appu said he was surprised to find the food on supermarket shelves with the tick.

"If the meal has received the tick, then it must conform to the Heart Foundation's requirements. Perhaps it has been diluted of its butter and cream content.

"Of course, that would mean it will not be butter chicken any more ."

Mr Mathieson said the number of Asian/Indian products getting the tick was very small compared with the 950 products with the tick already in the market.

The foundation's nutrition criteria were reasonably consistent with dietitians' recommendations.

"We have a working team that consists of healthcare professionals from both sides of the Tasman - some of senior academic capacity - and we go by the guidelines they would recommend which are done with fairly comprehensive research."

The objective, he said, was to encourage food companies to manufacture products that meet the tick's nutrition requirements.

- NZPA