DNA Test Fails to Find Any Tuna in Subway Tuna Sandwiches
After a lawsuit claimed that the gigantic sandwich chain Subway was lying about using real tuna in its food, a reporter from The New York Times decided to investigate.
After buying up tuna sandwiches from a few different Subway locations, freezing the mystery meat, and sending it to a fish testing lab, the NYT investigation found that there was absolutely zero trace of any DNA from the tuna species Subway claims to offer — a surprise finding that could show nefarious sourcing by the fast food brand, but more likely illustrates the limitations of genetic analysis.
Subway has, understandably, insisted to the NYT that it does in fact serve tuna in its tuna sandwiches, and multiple experts and employees of the chain told the NYT that they can’t imagine why Subway would so scandalously attempt to cut corners on an already low-cost meat. But the investigation does reveal how hard it can be to determine what we’re actually eating — and how little it seems to matter to many consumers.
“I dealt with the tuna all the time,” a pseudonymous former employee told the NYT. “The ingredients are right on the package and tuna is a relatively cheap meat. There would be no point to making replacement tuna to make it cheaper.”
