Pepperoni porkies!

Diners miss out as number of sausage slices on pizzas can be HALF what’s advertised

WHEn hungry pizza-lovers have ordered their meal, the priority when it arrives is probably to tuck in without delay.

However, if they took a few moments to survey the offering from a restaurant or takeaway, then they may find they have been short-changed on the toppings.

For those who pick pepperoni, the number of meat pieces they receive is something of a lottery, a survey reveals.

This is despite most chains having a formula for the key ingredients topping their pizzas, including a specific quantity of slices of pepperoni.

For example, Prezzo promises 25 pieces. But sample purchases of its Vesuvio from three outlets found none matched this, with the actual number ranging from just 13 – half that advertised – to 20.

The figure advertised by Pizza Hut Delivery was 48 slices, but in reality the number on its large Pepperoni Feast ranged from 31 to 51.

Staff at branches of ASK Italian and Papa John’s could not agree on how many slices should be on their pizzas.

When the toppings were counted, totals for ASK Italian’s Prima Stromboli ranged from 33 to 47. Meanwhile, for the large Papa’s Double Pepperoni from Papa John’s, it was 40 to 56.

Domino’s appeared the most consistent based on a promise of 40 slices. Its outlets delivered large Pepperoni Passions with 39, 40 and 41 slices. Pizza Express says there are 30 pieces on its American with a Romana base, and two outlets were generous with 36 – but a third offered only 26.

Prezzo said: ‘All our pizzas are made to order so occasionally we might miscalculate which would be in no way deliberate.’

Pizza Hut Delivery said: ‘We are very disappointed our service wasn’t up to scratch in this case and will make every effort to ensure a similar situation doesn’t happen again.’

The figures come from a survey by Leeds Beckett University commissioned by Channel 5 show Shop Smart Save Money, on tonight at 8pm.