The freshly cooked restaurant dishes made in a factory

THEY are the buzzwords that restaurants use to leave us salivating in anticipation.

Terms such as ‘handmade’, ‘homecooked’ or ‘fresh’ seem to meet our increasing demand for quality, natural food.

We expect to be served a dish that is healthy and made on site from authentic ingredients.

But in many cases, the description is merely marketing spin, a TV investigation has revealed.

Several high street restaurant chains and cafes are potentially fooling customers by using such terms and making exaggerated claims, it found.

Until recently, Pret A Manger described its soups as ‘handmade’ even though they were prepared in a large factory.

Pizza Express says its pizzas are ‘freshly made to order’ even though it uses frozen dough.

Most chains serve dishes prepared in factories, much like boil in the bag meals. All the chefs have to do is heat them in hot water, steam them or put them in a microwave, according to last night’s Channel 4’s Tricks Of The Restaurant Trade.

Even something as simple as scrambled egg is bulk-bought in boil-in-the-bag packaging.

Le Pain Quotidien describes its orange juice as ‘fresh’ even though it is not squeezed on site and arrives ready-bottled.

Law professor Dr Richard Hyde, of Nottingham University, said a food item does not need to be made by hand to be described as handmade.

If the machines used are big versions of ones you could get for a domestic kitchen, it can be called handmade. The food

‘Based on an old process’

cannot be made on an industrial scale, but it could still be made in a factory, he said.

Similarly, something can be labelled ‘home-cooked’ so long as the preparation method could feasibly have been used at home.

Food can be labelled ‘fresh’ provided it does not contain artificial preservatives.

Pret A Manger admitted its soups are made in a factory. It said the handmade description ‘was based on an old production process and has now been updated’.

Pizza Express said that while dough arrives frozen, each pizza is made fresh to order.

Le Pain Quotidien said its juice contains no artificial flavours, preservatives or colours – ‘just 100 per cent quality orange juice’.

Cafe Rouge, which was shown using the term ‘fresh ingredients’ on its menu, admitted its beef bourguignon arrives readyprepared in a bag to be cooked in hot water.