Oysters, liver, anchovies - the most unpalatable foods

Oysters one of the most unpalatable foods - poll. Photo / Thinkstock

Oysters, liver and anchovies have topped a list of foods deemed unpalatable by British adults.

Almost half the population (47 per cent) said oysters were among the foods they would not eat, with the figure increasing to 57 per cent of women, the poll for Save the Children found.

Some 46 per cent of adults said they disliked liver, closely followed by anchovies which were unlikely to appear on the plates of 45 per cent of those questioned.

The poll, which asked 2,011 adults to list the foods they could not or would not eat, found 42 per cent cannot stomach tofu, 39 per cent detest black pudding and 37 per cent would not select sushi.

Rounding out the top 10 most unpopular foods were blue cheese, named by 34 per cent of adults, olives (33 per cent), liquorice (28 per cent) and marzipan (26 per cent).

Just five per cent of respondents said they did not dislike any foods.

The survey was commissioned ahead of an event before the G8 summit in Northern Ireland to drive global action to reduce hunger and malnutrition.

Save the Children is among some 200 organisations backing the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign, calling on action from world leaders.

"The UK G8 nutrition summit is our best opportunity in decades to save the lives of the millions of children who die every year because they don't have nutritious food to eat," Save the Children chief executive Justin Forsyth said.

"We have made dramatic progress cutting child deaths in recent years, but hunger remains the Achilles' heel of development. Unless we tackle this, the great injustice of our age, children will continue to die needlessly. If enough people join us in showing support for ending hunger, world leaders will be forced to act."

Opinion Matters surveyed 2,011 adults between May 16 and May 22.

- PAA