Pie in the sky: takeaway myths tested

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Among dozens of exotic cuisines today, the meat pie is still an Aussie favourite due to its taste, price, and portability. But do they deserve their bad reputation as nutritional flops?

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Sharon Natoli, a dietician with Food and Nutrition Australia, says consumers need to be careful when eating out.

"When it comes to takeaways, you need to be careful because there are the healthy options, but there is also the downright unhealthy option," she says.

And takeout food is big business, with Australians spending $14 million a year at an average of 3 servings a week - with more consumers opting for healthy choices.

So what's better for you a meat pie, or popular Asian dishes like Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Italian?

Or perhaps other fast-food choices take the blue ribbon for best takeout meal?

Link: Learn how to lose weight and eat right

Today Tonight road-tested eight brands of the pies testing for the amount of meat, fat and salt, and compared the results to those found in other takeaway foods.

And the humble meat pie came under the greater scrutiny.

The Food Standard specifies that there must be a minimum of 25 per cent meat in a meat pie.

In our previous tests, a couple of brands broke the law, containing less than the required amount.

When it comes to salt and fat content, there is no legal restriction on the amount a pie can contain, but these levels must be declared on the ingredients label of each meat pie, says Mrs Natoli.

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"According to the Food Standards Code, the meat in a pie can certainly be the flesh, but it can also be the rind, the connective tissue, the blood and blood vessels, and in the case of poultry, the skin as well so you can get all of those components in a meat pie," says Mrs Natoli.

But she said the meat can come from a variety of sources including camel, goat, hare, rabbit, pig, poultry, buffalo, deer.

However again, the type of animal must be stated on the pie label, so manufacturers are more likely to use sheep or cattle.

Microbiologist Glen Pinna of Biotech Laboratories arrived with good news, with all meat pies tested by Today Tonight containing the contents on their labels.

They also each complied with the food standard of minimum 25 per cent meat, with a standard variation of 12.

Woolworths home brand with 26.2 per cent has the least meat - Brumby's the most, with 38 per cet.

"The less meat the more filling, so your fillings in a pie can be things like your thickeners, your gravy, things like your flavours, flavour enhancers anti-oxidants vegetable protein and other additives so they're all the things that go into make up the filling," Mrs Natoli says.

But the fat tests were not as favourable.

Mrs Mac's pies has the most fat with 23 grams per serving, Michel's Patisserie had about 20 grams a pie, and surprisingly, the least fat was contained in the generic brands (you'll love Coles and Woolworths Home Brand with 11 to 12 grams per pie).

"If you're going to have anything else for the day you'll want to choose lower salt. It's no surprise that pies are high in fat food," Mr Natoli says.

So how do Chinese, Thai, Indian, Italian and fast-food takeaways rate as a healthy meal?

First we take a look at Thai Chicken with Chilli and Basil,or the popular Pad Thai.

"If you look at the pad Thai, you've got fried noodles in there and oil so naturally the kilojoule content is going to increase a lot more you can see it glistening there which tells you there's a fair bit of oil in that dish. I'd definitely choose the chicken and some rice chilli in there you've got heaps of vegetables as well," says Caitlin Reid from the Australian Healthy Food Guide.

Thai Chicken with Chilli and Basil has 12 grams of fat, Pad Thai more than double that amount with 30 grams (more fat than a McDonald's Big Mac).

Thai green curry, which is full of coconut cream, is has even more fat when compared with a meat pie, with an average of 17 grams fat.

Indian: Chicken Tikka has 9 grams of fat, Chicken Korma is almost 6-times more fatty, 51 grams of fat (3-times more fat than the average meat pie).

"The Chicken Tikka is definitely a better choice than the Chicken Korma, even down to the bread the Roti, which is made with wholemeal flour is definitely a better choice than the naan bread," says Mrs Reid.

Chinese: Beef and Blackbean has 9 grams, Sweet and Sour Pork with Fried Rice has 60 grams of fat. 3 and a half times more than your average meat pie.

Italian: Napolitana is 12 grams, Carbonara 32 grams of fat.

"You're looking at twice the kilojoule content in a creamy based pasta compared to a tomato based pasta," says Mrs Reid.

So, in terms of fat, an average meat pie is not as healthy as Thai Chicken with Chilli and Basil, Chicken Tikka, Beef and Blackbean or pasta Napolitana, but far healthier than Pad Thai, Chicken Korma, Sweet and Sour Pork and pasta Carbonara.

The average pie has around two thirds the total fat of a Big Mac, but our two pies with the highest fat levels (Mrs Macs and Michels) are almost as much as a Big Mac's.

"Look for those lighter pies as an option, but still it's good to keep things like meat pies and any pastry foods to around once a week," adds Sharon.