Choosing packaged saladsHow the same meal varies between shops

Asda Tomato & Basil Chicken Pasta Salad £2 (330g)

Calories 541 fat 29.7g sat fat 2.6g salt 1.6g

Mayonnaise was high in the ingredients list for all the salads, but Asda took the extra step of dressing its salad in a creamy tomato and soft cheese mayo dressing. It’s the same size as the Boots option, but has twice as much fat.

Boots Delicious Tomato & Basil Chicken Pasta £2.80 (331g)

Calories 425 fat 15g sat fat 1.4g salt 0.8g

The Boots salad contains the fewest calories and the least amount of fat, saturated fat and salt out of all four of the tomato and basil chicken pasta salads that we looked at, both in terms of total salad and per 100g.

M&S Pasta with Tomato & Basil British Chicken £3.20 (380g)

Calories 760 fat 46g sat fat 4.9g salt 2.4g

The Marks & Spencer salad, which is the largest, has by far the most calories, fat, sat fat and salt. Per 100g, it’s got three times as much saturated fat and salt as the Boots salad and almost three times as much fat.

Mayonnaise dressing is the second highest ingredient (27%) in M&S Pasta with Tomato & Basil British Chicken.

Sainsbury’s Tomato & Basil Chicken £2.95 (350g)

Calories 595 fat 27.7g sat fat 2.1g salt 0.6g

Sainsbury’s salad specified it had no mayo but it was still comparatively high in fat. The ingredients list revealed that the dressing contained many of the same ingredients as mayonnaise: namely white wine vinegar, egg yolk and oil.