Britain eats more bags of crisps than the rest of western Europe put together, according to a new report published in The Sunday Times this week.

According to the report, Britons eat 10 billion bags of crisps a year with consumption standing at 7.2kg a year or up to three bags of crisps a week for every man, woman and child in Britain. This is growing at 3% a year.

In comparison, Italy consumes 1kg per person a year.

The report on snack foods, compiled by Key Note, also shows that the market for cheese biscuits is growing by 15% a year with more than a third of the population eating them regularly.

Pringles are also growing with sales rising at 10% a year with four out of ten British adults regularly buying them.

Key Note also points out that the industry is getting a good return for the £33m it spends a year on advertising. It states that children not receive an average of £7.82 a week and a third of this is spent on crisps and sweets.