Subway has ambitious goals in mind
The sandwich manufacturer declared that it would no longer be selling Subway pre-sliced deli meat. They want to cut fresh meat on-site for their well-liked sandwiches.
A Subway representative told PEOPLE that the company is “rolling out deli meat slicers to restaurants across the United States” as part of its continuous transformation journey.
The representative went on, “By summer 2023, we want all American restaurants to serve freshly sliced meats.
In August, Restaurant Business Online broke the story for the first time. The slicers are automatic, according to a statement made by Subway North America President Trevor Haynes. It isn’t like the classic handheld deli slicer, according to Haynes. All of it is automated.
The equipment will be on display so that patrons can watch the slicing procedure and the brand’s shift in production, according to Restaurant Business Online.
After a dispute over Subway’s tuna, the switch to freshly sliced protein refers to the dispute that started in 2021 over Subway’s tuna sandwiches.
The New York Times at the time hired a lab to test “more than 60 inches’ worth of Subway tuna sandwiches” in response to a lawsuit that was filed in January 2021 and claimed that the chain’s ingredients did not contain actual tuna. In the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Californians Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin filed the action. The accusations presented by Dhanowa and Amin were initially published by The Washington Post.
“There is no truth to the accusations in the California case,” a Subway spokesman said in a statement made available to PEOPLE at the time in response to the complaint.
According to the New York Times, three locations in Los Angeles provided samples of tuna from Subway, and a lab conducted a PCR test to determine whether the chain’s tuna was made up of one of five different species. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Seafood List lists 15 different types of fish that can be sold as tuna.
According to Subway, they use species of tuna that the New York Times’ lab could identify: skipjack and yellowfin. According to the lab analysis, “no amplification products were recovered from the DNA because there was no amplifiable tuna DNA present in the sample.” As a result, the species cannot be determined.
Anything that isn’t tuna in Subway’s tuna products is “most likely” the consequence of “cross-contact” with a sandwich-making employee, the company has said. Subway disputes claims that its tuna is not made entirely of tuna in one section of its website.
July 20, 2022: A California judge decided that Subway could be sued for allegedly using “100% tuna” in its sandwiches.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar suggests that even if Subway’s claim of cross-contamination is true, the 100% tuna claim may not be accurate.
“While it’s possible that Subway is providing accurate information, it’s also possible that these statements suggest the presence of ingredients that a discerning consumer would not anticipate finding in a tuna product,” Tigar told NBC.
Note: Subway will no longer be serving sandwiches with presliced meat in the summer of 2023. Rather, they began slicing the meat fresh at every shop. Their sandwiches tasted better after making this adjustment. As part of their strategy to use better ingredients in their food, Subway implemented this change.
Visit Subway-Menu for more details on the menu and price.