What’s the ‘Worst Restaurant Meal’ in America?

Fish is so incredibly healthy, it's unbelievable. But, in these parts, fish is often served--and preferred--fried. Either rolled in corn meal or soaked in a breading and lowered into a vat of hot fat. After all, this is the south.

Well, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, in the race to determine the "worst restaurant meal in America," we have a winner!

It's the Big Catch from Long John Silver's!

The consumer advocacy group--after doing it's own lab testing--revealed on Tuesday that the new meal on the LJS menu--which features a piece of fried haddock, hush puppies, and onion rings and sells for $4.99--contains a whopping 33 grams of trans fat.

But wait, there's more.

The new Big Catch meal also sports 19 grams of saturated fat and close to 3700 milligrams of sodium. Trans fats--for those who hear the term but aren't sure what it means--are created through the industrial production of partially hydrogenated frying oil.

Now, here's the significance of the number 33. The American Heart Association suggests that trans fat consumption be limited to 2 grams per day. And, frankly, I like to avoid them altogether. But, yeah, 2 grams per day. This means that the Big Catch meal contains more than 2 weeks worth of trans fats.

In terms of calories, the Big Catch only contains 1320 which, believe it or not, is far less than many meals you'll find on many menus around the country.

But in this case, it's the amount of trans fats that's sending up the red flag.