With the weekend finally in sight, many Brits will be looking forward to digging into a delicious bacon sandwich.
But a new report might put you off certain supermarket offerings.
The team at Which? have analysed 28 pork bacon products to find out the most and least healthy options.
Their findings will come as a relief to fans of Morrisons‘ Nitrate Free Unsmoked Back Bacon, which was named the healthiest option.
However, it’s bad news if your go-to is the Finnebrogue Naked Unsmoked Streaky Bacon or Morrisons’ The Best Extra Thick Cut Unsmoked Back Bacon, which were found to contain the most saturated fat and salt, respectively.
Charlotte Phillips, a Which? nutritionist and senior researcher, said: ‘If you’re buying bacon for your weekend breakfast, you can make informed choices by knowing what to look for on the labels because the nutritional gap between brands can be quite drastic.
‘For example, two rashers of the fattiest streaky bacon can make up approximately 20 per cent of a woman’s daily saturated fat limit and two rashers of the saltiest options contribute to more than 40 per cent of your 6g daily recommended salt intake.’
Looking at salt content, Morrisons The Best Extra Thick Cut Unsmoked Back Bacon is the worst offender
In terms of saturated fats, Finnebrogue Naked Unsmoked Streaky Bacon tops the list, with a whopping 12.3g
The team analysed the nutritional values of 28 popular pork bacon products, as well as six plant and poultry options.
They focused on three key ‘baddies’ – salt, saturated fat, and nitrites and nitrates.
In terms of saturated fats, Finnebrogue Naked Unsmoked Streaky Bacon tops the list, with a whopping 12.3g.
This is ahead of Morrisons Smoked Back Bacon (8.9g), Lidl Unsmoked Rindless Streaky Bacon (8.8g), and Sainsbury’s Unsmoked Back Bacon (8.8g).
In contrast, Morrisons Lean Unsmoked Bacon Medallions were found to contain the least saturated fat (2.4g), ahead of Morrisons Nitrate Free Unsmoked Back Bacon (3.7g), and Asda Exceptional Dry Cured Oak Smoked (4.3g).
‘High saturated fat raises “bad” LDL cholesterol, increasing heart disease risk,’ Which? explained.
‘Official guidelines recommend capping daily intake at 20g for women (30g for men), with anything over 5g per 100g triggering a red traffic light.’
Looking at salt content, Morrisons The Best Extra Thick Cut Unsmoked Back Bacon is the worst offender.
‘[This] tops the salt scale as the single saltiest product in our review, containing nearly 50 per cent more salt than the 3.11g average for cooked bacon,’ Which? said.
Other particularly salty options include Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Unsmoked Air Dried Wiltshire Cured Back (4g), Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Unsmoked Air Dried Streaky Bacon (3.95g) and Stamford Street Co. Unsmoked Back Bacon (3.93g).
Morrisons Lean Unsmoked Bacon Medallions contain the least unsaturated fat of all 28 bacon products tested
At the other end of the scale, Aldi Smoked British Sweetcure Back Bacon is the least salty option (1.63g), ahead of Sainsbury’s Reduced Salt Smoked Back Bacon (2.26g) and Sainsbury’s Unsmoked Reduced Salt Back Bacon (2.26g).
Finally, Which? looked at the levels of nitrites/nitrates in the bacons.
‘Nitrates are found naturally in foods and are generally harmless,’ it explained.
‘However, when added to meat and cooked at high temperatures, they react to form harmful compounds known as nitrosamines.’
Of the 28 products tested, just seven were nitrite-free.
These were: Asda Unsmoked Back Bacon Rashers without nitrates, Finnebrogue Naked Smoked Back Bacon, Finnebrogue Naked Smoked Streaky Bacon, Finnebrogue Naked Unsmoked Streaky Bacon, Finnebrogue Naked Unsmoked Back Bacon, Morrisons Nitrate Free Unsmoked Back Bacon and Sainsbury’s Back Bacon Rashers without nitrites.
While that’s a lot of information to mull over, Which? also revealed its top overall pork, poultry and plant-based choices.
According to the consumer champion, the healthiest pork choice is Morrisons Nitrate Free Unsmoked Back Bacon.
‘This back bacon strikes a balance across three major health factors, as it delivers zero nitrates/nitrites while keeping both saturated fat (3.7g per 100g) and salt (3.3g per 100g) lower compared with some of its other supermarket competitors,’ Ms Phillips explained.
The best plant-based option, meanwhile, is the THIS Isn’t Bacon Rashers 100 per cent Plant-Based.
The expert added: ‘THIS Isn’t Bacon not only wins the plant–based category by keeping its saturated fat to a negligible 0.1g per 100g and salt lower than some of the meat rashers, but it also takes my top recommendation overall for beating the meat options, too.’
And if you prefer poultry products, your best bet is the Mattessons Lightly Smoked Turkey Rashers.
Ms Phillips said: ‘At just 29 calories and 0.1g of saturated fat per cooked rasher, Mattessons cuts saturated fat to virtually zero, lightening up your breakfast fry–up while still matching standard bacon on protein density. It’s an impressively lean swap, provided you keep an eye on your overall daily salt intake.’
