Photo: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty
Big plans are in store forSubway.
The sandwich company announced that they will be doing away with pre-sliced deli meat. They plan to slice fresh meat in stores for their popular sandwiches.
“As part ofSubway’s ongoing transformation journey, we are rolling out deli meat slicers to restaurants across the U.S., elevating the quality of our protein offerings even further,” a Subway spokesperson said in a statement shared with PEOPLE.
Restaurant Business Onlinefirst reported the news in August. Per the outlet, Trevor Haynes, president of Subway North America, said the slicers are automatic. “It’s not like the old handheld deli slicer,” Haynes said. “It’s all automated.”
Customers can see the brand’s shift in production as the machines will be on display for customers to watch the slicing process, according to Restaurant Business Online.
The move towards freshly sliced protein comes after a controversy started in 2021 surrounding Subway’s tuna sandwiches.
Subway tuna sandwich.Jörg Carstensen/picture alliance via Getty Images
In a statement given to PEOPLE at the time, a Subway spokesperson responded to the suit, saying: “There simply is no truth to the allegations in the complaint that was filed in California.”
When tuna is cooked, its DNA becomes denatured — meaning that test results could be inaccurate due to the change, theNew York Timesadded.Inside Editionsimilarly commissioned a lab study in February 2021 using the tuna from three Subway locations in Queens, New York. Their results concluded that the chain does use real tuna.
Subway has said that anything that is not tuna in its tuna products are “most likely” because of “cross-contact” from an employee preparing a sandwich. On a page of Subway’swebsite, the chain denies any claims that say their tuna is not 100 percent just that.
In July 2022, a judge in California ruled that Subway can be sued for claims that its sandwiches are “100% tuna.”
According to U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar even if Subway’s claim of cross contamination is true, the 100% tuna claim could still be false.
“Although it is possible that Subway’s explanations are the correct ones, it is also possible that these allegations refer to ingredients that a reasonable consumer would not reasonably expect to find in a tuna product,” Tigar said, according to NBC.
source: people.com
