J D WETHERSPOON has been named the best place for a healthy family meal.
The findings came from the Out To Lunch campaign, run by organic farming charity the Soil Association.
It sent “secret diners” to eat in the UK’s most popular high street family restaurants in a bid to find the best and worst.
The aim was to find those serving fresh, traceable, sustainable and ethically sourced food.
Wetherspoon scored the highest with a menu of sustainable fish, free range RSPCA eggs and British beef.
It has a policy on reducing antibiotics use in the meat it serves and all palm oil goods are certified sustainable by the Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil.
Portion sizes can also be changed to avoid food waste.
Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “We take great pride in offering a wide range of meals with heavy emphasis on quality products and healthy choices.”
Jessica Michael, healthy food campaigner, said she was already aware of Wetherspoon’s reputation for better quality food.
She said: “I know they are doing quite well and they offer a few vegan meals.
“My children have been there a few times.
“I think it’s really important that restaurants offer fresh food and a good array of plant based options, which naturally tend to contain more fresh ingredients.”
Harvester also wowed families and came in third place, with Ikea’s cafe in second.
Children’s meals in the highest scoring chains were on average £1 cheaper than meals in the lowest scoring chains, showing that price is not a barrier to well-sourced food.
Yet some restaurant chains left a bad taste.
Out To Lunch showed M&S cafe failed to offer children any vegetables at all with their meals and staff had little knowledge of where the meat they served was from.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) came bottom with only one vegetable side option.
Children’s portions were considered enormous, especially when paired with a filling milkshake.
An M&S spokesman said the chain was looking to extend the children’s menu to offer better quality and fresh food choices for families in the cafes.
GBK has not yet responded to request for a comment.
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