Eighteen major catering companies, including many high street brands, are to introduce calorie information on to their menus for the first time.

Chains including Compass Group UK and Ireland, Pret a Manger and fast food outlets such as KFC, Burger King and Pizza Hut are among those to have signed up to the scheme, unveiled yesterday by public health minister Dawn Primarolo and the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

From the end of April, participating firms will start displaying calorie information.

By June, more than 450 food outlets across the country will have introduced calorie information, some on a pilot basis. Each company has agreed to display calorie information for most food and drink they serve, print calorie information on menu boards, paper menus or on the edge of shelves and ensure the information is clear and easily visible at the point where people choose their food.

Tim Smith, chief executive of the FSA, said: “We are pleased that such a diverse range of companies has agreed to work with us by introducing calorie labelling at the crucial point where their customers make a decision about what to eat.

“Our aim is to ensure that consumers have better information so they can make informed choices to improve their diet when eating out, whether that is a snack on the go, a meal in a staff restaurant or at a table being served by a waiter.”

Independent research will assess how easily customers understand and use the system and gather feedback from the restaurants themselves to look at practical issues and the costs involved in providing the information. Gathering this data will inform the next steps for a wider roll-out of calorie labelling on menus.

The full list of companies are: Burger King; Compass Group UK and Ireland in a number of Royal Mail staff restaurants; The Co-operative Expresso cafes; ISS Mediclean in a number of London hospital restaurants; KFC; Marks & Spencer cafes; Chessington World of Adventures and Zoo, operated by Merlin Entertainments; Harvester restaurants and Scream pubs, operated by Mitchells & Butlers; Pizza Hut; Pret A Manger; Sainsbury’s cafes; Sodexo in a number of client restaurants in its corporate and defence sectors; Subway; Tesco staff restaurants; Unilever staff restaurants (in partnership with Sodexo); Waitrose Cafes; Wimpy; and 7 Day Catering in college restaurants.