Meal kit brand Gousto has created “the UK’s most addictive burger” in a stunt intended to “expose industry tricks”.
‘The Big Secret’ meal comprises a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a vanilla & strawberry milkshake. It has been “deliberately engineered” to demonstrate how UK fast food “is designed to drive cravings and overconsumption at the expense of long-term health”, said Gousto CEO and founder Timo Boldt.
The creation is “to show how highly targeted ingredients and techniques are used to engineer cravings and keep people coming back for more, without them ever realising”, he added.
The meal contains 165% of the recommended daily intake of salt, over triple the daily sugar limit and high levels of saturated fat.
It delivers over 2,100 calories in “a form that can be eaten quickly and easily”, with every component qualifying as ultra-processed. It’s made up of 90 ingredients across the burger, fries and milkshake.
The meal “incorporates the very tactics fast food brands use to captivate the brain’s reward system”, said registered dietitian Clare Thornton-Wood, who worked with Gousto on the recipe.
“One of these is the ‘bliss point’ – the precise mix of sugar, salt, and fat that maximises pleasure while delaying fullness, sparking a dopamine response that naturally encourages repeat bites. Combining chemical enhancers and texture manipulation, the result is what could be considered the UK’s most addictive burger meal,” she added.
Gousto told The Grocer that while the meal had been created in its kitchens, it won’t be selling ‘The Big Secret’ or making it available to customers as “it felt immoral considering”.
Gousto-commissioned research, conducted by UCL economists at Bloomsbury Policy Lab, found the risk of diet-related conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases greatly increase with frequent consumption of fast food and the UPFs it contains, and may be costing the British health system as much as £67bn annually.
Separate consumer research commissioned by Gousto found 74% of UK adults understand that high levels of fat, salt, and sugar are unhealthy; however almost half (46%) said they would not know where to look for nutritional and ingredient information for their favourite fast food meals.
“This isn’t about personal choice or willpower – it’s a broader systemic issue,” said Boldt. “The research exposes how ultra-convenient fast food is intentionally designed to keep us hooked, and the real cost this has on our health and the economy.”
“We believe convenience shouldn’t come at the expense of health,” Boldt added. “That’s why we’re calling for more consistent, accessible information across the food industry, so people can better understand what’s really in the food they buy. By supporting clearer labelling and making cooking from scratch more accessible, we want to help households move away from a system that prioritises speed and profit over nutrition.”
The Big Secret follows a similar stunt by celebrity fitness instructor Joe Wicks, who last year created a protein bar packed full of every additive, emulsifier and sweetener available – but still within legal thresholds and approved for sale.
The creation of the bar – named Killer – was documented in Channel 4 consumer shockumentary Joe Wicks: Licensed to Kill, which set out to expose unhealthy ultra-processed foods.
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