Consumer alert group “Choice” tested 20 frozen meat pies available in supermarket chains nationally. They found that at present meat pies contain more meat than they did four years back. To qualify as a meat pie, the product should be at least 25% meat as per the guidelines from 2007. Coles home brand was the only brand that failed to meet the content standard. Australians spend more than $127 million and eat 18,500 tonnes of meat pies every year.
According to Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn these pies are not healthy. He said, “Still remember that pies are pretty high in fat and saturated fats and salts. We're talking about supermarket frozen pies here… It's an occasional food. It's not something that we think people should be eating all the time.” “If it takes a fair shake of the sauce bottle to make your pie edible, then perhaps you should be eating something else,” he said.
But Mr. Zinn also said that the quantity of meat has risen in most brands to meet the standards. He added, “I think the standards have not only improved for meat pies but the compliance by the meat pie people seems to be a lot better…When we tested back in 2006 there were quite a number of pies that failed to meet the standard. Now those manufacturers have really lifted their game.”
All brands were rated in terms of nutrition, meat content and taste. “Scoring well on all three criteria, the Elmsbury (Aldi) Bakehouse Premium Grain Fed Beef Pie was the overall winner. It had good meat content, was comparatively lower in fat and sodium, and tasted good. While not the cheapest pie we tested, it does offer value for money as a premium pie that's nutritionally better than others on the market,” said Mr. Zinn. The Four'N Twenty Lite pie has the approval of the Heart Foundation with the lowest calorie and fat content. Four'N Twenty comes first in taste department followed closely by Black & Gold. Most tasters complained of a generally doughy, salty and too much gravy in most brands.
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