"Subway Bread Isn't Bread", Irish Court Says + MORE

Although Subway is marketed as a healthy alternative to other fast food operations, don't forget that it's still a fast food chain.  And when it comes to fast food chains, addictiveness and mouth feel are key to repeat buyers.  In the food world, billions of dollars is spent each year on the effectiveness of hyperpalatable food products.  Dr. Terra Pazzino describes a hyperpalatable food as " the synergy between components of the food — such as fat, sodium (salt), sugar, and carbohydrates", and alongside sugary drinks is a leading cause of the obesity epidemic.  

Sugar is a HIGHLY addictive additive (and in most cases completely unnecessary) to many convenient snack and meal choices.  And in a recent court case in Ireland, was deemed "too high in sugar" to be legally defined as bread.

“There is no dispute that the bread supplied by Subway in its heated sandwiches has a sugar content of 10% of the weight of the flour included in the dough, and thus exceeds the 2% specified,” the judge said.

Naturally, following the judges decision Subway denied this and released a statement via email saying “Subway’s bread is, of course, bread...We have been baking fresh bread in our restaurants for more than three decades and our guests return each day for sandwiches made on bread that smells as good as it tastes.”

Yikes.  Not a good look.  And it doesn't get better from there either...

If you remember, a report from CBC in 2017 (based on an investigation by Kathleen Coughlin, Eric Szeto and Charlsie Agro) claimed that there may be as little as 50% actual chicken in the chicken from the popular sandwich shop as well.   Marketplace, I reliable reporting segment of the CBC broadcasting group DNA tested five major fast foods chains.  Here were the foods they tested:

• McDonald's Country Chicken - Grilled

• Wendy's Grilled Chicken Sandwich

• A&W Chicken Grill Deluxe

• Tim Hortons Chipotle Chicken Grilled Wrap

• Subway Oven Roasted Chicken Sandwich

• Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki (chicken strips)

An important note, all of these samples were tested without any sauce or condiments.  After multiple rounds of sample testing, DNA researcher Matt Harnden at Trent University's Wildlife Forensic DNA Laboratory tested the poultry in six popular chicken sandwiches and arrived at the results that almost all of the samples were "very close" to 100 percent chicken DNA.  However, Subway's results were so shockingly low that Harnden's team decided to test them again, performing a biopsy on five new chicken pieces.  The results?  Once the results were averaged, Subway scored 53.6 per cent chicken DNA, and the chicken strips were found to have a shocking 42.8 per cent chicken DNA. 

So what was the remaining DNA consisting of?

SOY.  

The debate on soy containing products is a lengthy one, and will need to be covered in a separate article, however if it's being used a silent filler ingredient in fast food chains, that should be reason enough to question the integrity of the product. 

Again, Subway naturally denied these findings and claimed them as a misrepresentation and that they would "...look into this again with our supplier to ensure that the chicken is meeting the high standard we set for all of our menu items and ingredients."

What are your thoughts?