2021 was a tough year for Subway. Perhaps most notable of the chain's many woes was
the November scandal concerning Subway's tuna — which has been the subject of a
lawsuit alleging that it isn't really the ingredient Subway claims it is.
"That's insane, I mean, no tuna in a tuna fish sandwich? That's odd."
"How could you not have tuna in tuna?"
Understandably, this may have led some customers to wonder whether other foods
at Subway are really what they thought they were.
Although Subway's catchphrase is "Eat Fresh," it's entirely possible that this chain's ingredients
are no fresher than any other restaurant's food. Indeed, some of the ingredients customers would
expect to be the freshest, such as vegetables and chicken, allegedly arrive at Subway restaurants
weeks old and packed with preservatives. These claims were made in an open letter
to one of the company's owners that was signed by more than 100 Subway restaurant operators.
If those claims weren't concerning enough, some former and current Subway employees
have claimed online that they weren't required to clean the produce — although
other employees have also stated that this was not the case at their locations.
Boxes of tomatoes and peppers purportedly contained more than a few rotten veggies,
and a number of Subway establishments may not require vegetables to be washed
or rinsed before serving. So, with all of these fresh claims about Subway's food,
is it any surprise that controversy has now fallen on the sandwich shop's jalapeños as well?
Recently, YouTuber Gus Johnson brought a cavalcade of jalapeño-based outrage to
his 3 million subscribers. In a video posted to YouTube, Johnson explained that he had purchased
20 Subway sandwiches with jalapeños. He then proceeded to go through every single sandwich,
removing jalapeños that were still bearing their stems. Only one of the 20
sandwiches did not contain any stems. When Vice collaborated with Johnson to cover this story,
Subway reached out with a statement, saying:
"While the top portion of a jalapeño is a natural part of the pepper,
some guests may not enjoy it as much so we are working on ways to address this."
Johnson posted a screenshot of the statement to Twitter,
after which fans criticized the chain's logic. One user commented:
"The stem is a 'natural part' of an apple too, but you don't see us eating that."
Another added:
"The avocado pit is a natural part of the avocado as well,
but you don't see me wanting it in my guac."
Throw the notorious tuna controversy on top of this, and things are starting to look bad
for Subway. The company's tuna has been under scrutiny for quite some time, even though its
official website insists that the tuna served in Subway stores is "high-quality, premium and 100%
real." However, when Subway tuna was lab-tested by plaintiffs in a lawsuit in order to identify
its contents, some disturbing results came back: 19 out of 20 tuna samples from Subway
locations around Southern California contained no detectable tuna DNA.
Worse still, every single one of the samples contained DNA from chicken, pork, or cattle.
Why is this problematic? Well, besides the fact that Subway has misled customers about
the freshness of its tuna, this also poses ethical dilemmas for individuals who may
have religious or dietary restrictions. Those who practice Islam or Judaism,
for example, can normally consume tuna, but they may not want to
risk consuming Subway tuna because it may contain pork, which is forbidden.
And you may want to pass on Subway's chicken, too. While the chain's chicken products may not be as
widely controversial as the tuna, the company still fought a lawsuit in Quebec alleging that
they didn't contain 100% chicken. When tested, Subway's chicken did not contain any other meats.
However, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's "Marketplace" discovered that Subway's oven
roasted chicken contained just 53.6% chicken DNA, and its chicken strips were made up of only 42.8%
chicken. The remainder consisted of soy protein, which, in fairness, isn't quite as bad as the tuna
controversy. Nevertheless, Subway's chicken woes represent yet another nail in the coffin
for the chain's world-class reputation — and who knows what has yet to be revealed?
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