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When you are dieting, salad seems like the angelic, if maybe less satisfying, option for a meal. Especially when it comes to lunch, when the supermarkets and shops sell pre-packaged options for the health conscious as an alternative to sandwiches or fatty burgers.  However, new research indicates that some salads on the market may be barely healthier than a Big Mac.

In a study of 20 pre-packaged salads, the consumer magazine Which? discovered that on average they contained 20.3 grams of fat, only a small amount less than the fat in a Big Mac, 24 grams. One salad, Morrison’s 300g Smedleys Atlantic Prawn Marie Rose Salad, contained 66.3g of fat and 855 calories, more than a Big Mac and medium fries and nearly 100% of a women’s daily recommended fat allowance. Asda’s Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad was the equivalent of eating 6 Cadbury’s Cream Eggs in terms of fat content.

Which? magazine said that the reason salads were often surprisingly high in calories was that their dressings contained mayonnaise or creamy sauce, in “generous” quantities. They also warned that some salads claimed to contain “no mayonnaise” while containing all the ingredients for mayonnaise.

The magazine has asked food companies to consider adopting one universal label indicating fat, sugar and salt content to make it easier for shoppers to see at a glance exactly what they are eating.