There’s something suspicious about Subway’s tuna salad sandwiches and wraps, but the menu items don’t include any real fish, according to a lawsuit filed against the fast-food chain.
What Subway calls tuna is a “mixture of various mixtures that do not constitute tuna, but that were mixed by the defendants to mimic the appearance of the tuna,” according to the complaint.
Filed last week in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of two California residents, Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin, the lawsuit says the two “were tricked into buying foods that lacked ingredients they reasonably thought. be buying, “based on your labeling.
“Consumers are constantly induced to buy the products because of the commonly known and / or advertised benefits and characteristics of tuna, when in fact none of these benefits could be obtained, since the products are, in fact, devoid of tuna”, says the process .
“Conducting tests”
Alex Brown, a lawyer at the Lanier law firm that is representing Dhanowa and Amin in the case, said they are trying to determine what ingredients are used in Subway tuna. “We are conducting tests to find out what it is. The laboratory tests so far have only told us what it is not,” he said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch.
A company spokesman denied the allegations made in the lawsuit. “There is simply no truth to the allegations of the complaint that was filed in California,” said Maggie Truax, director of Global PR, in an email to CBS MoneyWatch “Subway delivers 100% cooked tuna in its restaurants, which is mixed with mayonnaise and used in freshly made sandwiches, wraps and salads that are served and enjoyed by our guests. “
According to the company’s website, the tuna salad in the chain’s sandwiches is made with tuna flakes in brine, mayonnaise and a flavor-protecting additive.
“Unfortunately, this lawsuit is part of a trend in which the lawyers for the aforementioned authors have turned to the food industry in an effort to make a name for themselves in that space,” said Truax.
If certified as a class action lawsuit, the lawsuit could potentially represent thousands of Subway customers who purchased tuna sandwiches or wraps after January 21, 2017, in California, where it has 2,266 stores.
The lawsuit is not the first legal dispute that raises questions about Subway products. Supreme Court of Ireland in September ruled that the bread that Subway uses in its sandwiches could not legally be called bread because of its high sugar content. And in 2017, an appeals court rejected a class action agreement on the claims of the network’s “submarines”, where one centimeter shy the advertised length.