It's official, the food on offer at major US airports has never been so healthy, although the range and variety of 'healthy options' available varies significantly from airport to airport.

Menus at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, San Francisco and Washington Dulles airports provide the most healthy food options, according to the latest report from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), which assesses the fare on offer at restaurants in 15 major airports.

Airports are ranked based on the percentage of their restaurants that have at least one healthy option on the menu, defined by PCRM dieticians as a “low-fat, high-fibre, cholesterol-free vegetarian entrée."

Surprising to some perhaps, but based on this criteria, the survey found that on average 83% of airport eateries offered a ‘healthy’ option.

The figure is up 1% on 2010 and an impressive 26% higher than the average score recorded in the first survey a decade ago.

The most improved gateway in 2011 was North Carolina's Charlotte Douglas International Airport, which improved by nine points to settle into a tie for seventh in the rankings.

Top 10 airports in the PCRM survey:

1. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW) – 100% 
2. San Francisco (SFO) – 96% 
3. Washington Dulles (IAD) – 92%
4. Minneapolis-St Paul (MSP) – 86% 
5. Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) + Las Vegas McCarran (LAS) – 83% 
6. Denver (DEN) + Miami (MIA) – 82% 
7. Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) + Charlotte Douglas (CLT) – 81% 
8. Orlando (ORL) – 80%
9. Los Angeles (LAX) + Baltimore/Washington (BWI) – 76% 
10. Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA) – 75%