The sandwiches that skimp on the filling

BITING into a supermarket sandwich to find it tastes of nothing but bread and butter can really put you off your lunch.

Now a study has found nearly half of popular choices such as BLT and prawn mayo don’t even contain as much filling as it says on their labels.

Removing a slice of bacon or a few prawns can generate huge savings for retailers given we spend almost £8billion a year on 3.5billion packaged sandwiches.

Those not prepared on-site must list percentages of the main ingredients under labelling laws. However, 14 of the 30 sandwiches examined did not live up to the filling proportions stated on the packaging, new Channel 5 show Shop Smart: Save Money found.

Researchers looked at five types of sandwich: chicken salad, BLT, ham and cheese, cheese and onion and prawn mayonnaise. These were bought from ten shops – WHSmith, Boots, Waitrose, Co-op, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Aldi.

The study found significant variation between retailers. For example, the percentage of prawns in prawn mayonnaise sandwiches – by weight – is 22 per cent at Boots, compared with 41 per cent at M&S.

Sainsbury’s offered the most generous fillings overall but its ham and cheese contained 20 per cent less ham than promised. WHSmith was least generous overall but its BLT was an exception, containing 50 per cent more bacon than stated on the label.

WHSmith said 12 of its 14 sandwiches contained at least the same amount as their closest competitor, while Sainsbury’s said it aimed to reduce variation in filling size.