Lab Test Reveals Subway’s Tuna Sandwiches Contain No Tuna DNA
The New York Times obtained “more than 60 inches worth of Subway tuna sandwiches” and sent them to a commercial food testing lab.
Credit: Ian Thomson
Subway has come under fire after an investigation by the New York Times failed to identify tuna DNA in the chain’s tuna sandwiches.
A reporter obtained “more than 60 inches worth of Subway tuna sandwiches” from three different Subway locations in the Los Angeles area, removed and froze the tuna meat, then sent it to a commercial food testing lab. The lab did not find any tuna DNA in the sample.
“There’s two conclusions,” a lab spokesperson told the NYT. “One, it’s so heavily processed that whatever we could pull out, we couldn’t make an identification.
“Or we got some and there’s just nothing there that’s tuna.”
The investigation comes after a lawsuit was filed in the state of California against Subway, alleging that the products “are made from anything but tuna”.
The lawsuit claims that Subway's tuna was "a mixture of various concoctions that do not constitute tuna, yet have been blended together by defendants to imitate the appearance of tuna.”
Despite the lab results, Subway has fiercely denied the claims, calling the allegations "baseless" and "threatening" to its business.
“Subway delivers 100% cooked tuna to its restaurants, which is mixed with mayonnaise and used in freshly made sandwiches, wraps and salads that are served to and enjoyed by our guests,” said Subway in a statement. “Indeed, there is no basis in law or fact for the plaintiffs’ claims, which are frivolous and are being pursued without adequate investigation.”
Chief food critic for Eater NY, Ryan Sutton, hopes that this occurrence could motivate people to care more about where their food originates from.
“I would hope that an issue like this would cause more people across the country and all across the world to spend more time thinking about every step of the environmental, labor and economic supply chains that supply their food,” said Ryan Sutton, the chief food critic for Eater. “We can’t just continue to have a downward pressure on the price,” Mr. Horn said, “because if we all want everything at rock bottom prices, that means something, somewhere is going to be exploited, whether that’s people or the ocean — probably both.”
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