Top chips
Our winners were ... Burger Fuel, Burger Wisconsin, and Nando's. All these hot chips had less than 10 percent fat and were cooked in canola oil or a vegetable blend.
Domino's Pizza would also have been in this group - except it had the highest sodium content of all the chips we tested.
Fat
KFC and Pizza Hut did OK in the total-fat stakes. But they were let down by being cooked in palm oil, which is high in saturated fat.
Fast-food giants McDonald's and Burger King topped the fat stakes.
McDonald's fries had 16.5 percent fat, more than double the fat in Nando's. Burger King wasn't far behind. Its chips had 15.1 percent fat, of which nearly half was "bad" saturated fat. That's because they're cooked in beef tallow.
Sodium
The sodium content varied greatly among the outlets we tested. Of those that salted their chips, the lowest were McDonald's and Burger Fuel (80mg) and the highest Domino's Pizza at 430mg. McDonald's had the lowest sodium content of the big chains.
Burger Wisconsin doesn't salt its chips. Customers are given a salt sachet so they can choose how much or how little salt to add. We think this is a good move.
Independent chip shops
How bad is your local chippie? That depends on several factors (see What makes chips unhealthy?). Both the takeaway stores in our test cooked their fries in beef tallow. But many others use canola and vegetable blends - so they'd be a healthier choice.
The independents had the largest serving sizes. JR's Seafoods 'n Takeaways sold us a scoop that weighed nearly 600g. That's nearly double what The Chip Group recommends as an acceptable portion (see "The Chip Group").
Our verdict
We're pleased to see some improvements have been made since our last test (in 2004). Although McDonald's hasn't reduced its total fat content, it's changed its oil and so the amount of saturated fat in its chips has significantly reduced. Nando's and Burger Wisconsin are also serving healthier chips.
We're disappointed that KFC and Pizza Hut are still frying in palm oil - and Burger King in beef tallow. Burger King told us it is reviewing what it fries in.
See the Test results for full details of how all the chips fared in our test.
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