Subway Just Launched A New Website To Defend Its Tuna Sandwiches
The Subway tuna sandwich saga continues, with the star of the show just getting its own website. If you are unaware of the debacle, let's get you up to speed because all the drama is starting to feel like an episode of "Gossip Girls" sans the XOXOs. According to CBS News, the "Eat Fresh" fast food sub chain was hit with a lawsuit in January of 2021 over claims that their tuna is not really tuna.
The lawsuit alleges that Subway's fish is actually a "mixture of various concoctions that do not constitute tuna, yet have been blended together by defendants to imitate the appearance of tuna." The class-action lawsuit originated in California, with the defendants claiming they, ". . .were tricked into buying food items that wholly lacked the ingredients they reasonably thought they were purchasing."
When this news story broke, it even prompted Jessica Simpson to get in on the act with a memorable Tweet that read, "It's okay @SUBWAY! It IS confusing." (Of course harkening back to her reality show days when she thought the tuna brand Chicken of the Sea was actually chicken.)
At the time, Subway naturally and proactively went into full PR crisis mode, touting that their tuna is indeed "100% real wild caught tuna." Subway maintains that the accusations are not true, telling Business Insider in January via a statement, "These claims are meritless. Tuna is one of our most popular sandwiches. Our restaurants receive 100% wild-caught tuna, mix it with mayonnaise, and serve on a freshly made sandwich to our guests."
But the drama didn't stop there.
Subway launches website all about 'tuna facts'
According to Business Insider, these events prompted a New York Times reporter to contract a lab to run analysis on three Subway tuna sandwiches purchased at different locations in Los Angeles to see if it was in fact real tuna they were serving. An emailed report sent to the paper read, "No amplifiable tuna DNA was present in the sample and so we obtained no amplification products from the DNA. Therefore, we cannot identify the species." However, Business Insider also shared that experts say once tuna is cooked, it is "difficult to identify."
Fast forward to present day, and the sandwich chain has now launched a website (subwaytunafacts.com) dedicated to all things related to their tuna sandwich to help clear up "misinformation" and "misunderstandings." It opens with a simple statement at the top of the page that states: "The truth is, Subway uses wild-caught skipjack tuna regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)." It cites a USA Today article that refutes The New York Times piece and goes on to share in the heavy Q&A section that they test their tuna regularly "to ensure it meets Subway's stringent quality and safety requirements."
They also give a lengthy update on the status of the lawsuit that kicked all of this drama into motion. The new website shares that the original claims of the California lawsuit that "Subway tuna products contain no tuna" were "abandoned" and instead replaced with a new complaint that Subway's tuna isn't 100% wild-caught skipjack and instead is yellowfin tuna. So ... could this finally be the end to this fish tale?