Supermarkets are promoting unhealthy products ahead of fresh produce, according to a new survey.

The National Consumer Council claims the big retailers were failing to promote fruit and vegetables, with a greater amount of promotion focused on Fatty and sugary foods.

The NCC looked at 2,346 price deals at nine supermarket chains, but found none met the NCC's target of offering 33% of promotions on fruit and veg.

The Co-operative group was rated top in the watchdogs health responsibility index, which looked at the retailers approach to salt reduction, nutrition labeling, in-store promotions and customer information.

Spot checks were carried out in one store per retail chain during June and July. Every retailer surveyed, except Marks & Spencer, had more than double the deals on unhealthy foods than fruit and vegetables.

M&S managed to have 27 per cent of its deals on fresh, compared with just seven per cent at Somerfield, and nine per cent at Morrisons.

Tesco came in sixth in the survey and Ed Mayo, NCC chief executive, said: “We’re dismayed that the biggest supermarket, Tesco, is a laggard on health.”

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