MORRISONS has come out better than average in a report by consumer watchdog Which? that found more than half of supermarket special offers were on less healthy foods.

According to mySupermarket data analysed by Which?, 53 per cent of the 77,165 promotions at major supermarkets between April and June were on less healthy foods - those high in fat, saturates, sugar or salt.

Which? looked at promotions at Morrisons, Ocado, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose, finding that offers on unhealthy food varied between 52 per cent and 55 per cent.

Unhealthy food offers at Morrisons and Ocado, which provides home deliveries for the Bradford-based grocer, were lower at an average of 48 per cent.

Which? categorised any product with a red traffic light label for fat, saturates, sugars or salt as less healthy - unless an item scored a red for fat and a green for saturated fat - and automatically counted fresh, unprocessed fruit and vegetables as healthier.

It found that 52 per cent of confectionery was on offer compared with 30 per cent of fresh fruit and 34 per cent of vegetables.

About seven in ten soft drinks (69 per cent) that would fall under the higher sugar band category, containing more than eight per cent sugar, under the Government’s planned sugar tax were also on promotion.

Alex Neill, Which? director of campaigns and policy, said: “Everybody has to play their part in the fight against obesity and people want supermarkets to offer more promotions on healthier foods and yet our research found the opposite.

“It’s time for supermarkets to shift the balance of products they include in price promotions and for all retailers to get rid of temptation at the till by taking sweets off the checkout.”

A Morrisons spokesman said: “Morrisons is British farming’s largest supermarket customer and we make most of the fresh food we sell in our stores.

“So, we are pleased that Which’s research says that we offer the highest percentage of promotions on healthy food.”