The milkshakes with 39 teaspoons of sugar

‘GROTESQUE’ milkshakes containing as much as 39 teaspoons of sugar should be banned, health campaigners warned yesterday.

The worst offender in a survey was Toby Carvery’s Unicorn Freakshake, which contains 156g of sugar – more than six times the recommended daily limit for children aged seven to ten.

Although sweetened shakes are exempt from the tax on sugary drinks that came in this April, ministers warn that they may close this loophole if food firms don’t change unhealthy recipes.

The Freakshake, which includes ice cream, blackcurrant jelly, milk, whipped cream, marshmallows, Skittles and macaroons, weighs in at 1,280 calories.

This is more than four times the 300-calorie limit suggested by health experts for such drinks.

They want the food industry to reduce sugar voluntarily by 2022 to combat rising obesity, particularly among children.

But the campaign group Action On Sugar, which published the survey today for National Sugar Awareness Week, insists any shake above 300 calories should be banned now.

This would also put an end to shakes from Five Guys, Pizza Hut, Harvester, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Burger King.

The servings offered by food chains tend to be larger than the shakes sold by supermarkets.

A 400ml Müller Chocolate Flavour Milk Frijj contains 304 calories and 42.8g of sugar – the equivalent of 11 teaspoons.

Campaigners surveyed 140 products from 14 food chains and found all had excessive sugar as defined by the Food Standards Agency traffic light system.

Action On Sugar said: ‘Milkshakes sold across high street restaurants and fast food chains contain grotesque levels of sugar.’ Toby Carvery and Harvester are owned by Mitchells & Butlers. A spokesman said both had joined the sugar reduction scheme. Other chains did not respond to requests for comment.