Last January, Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin from California filed charges against Subway: allegedly, the restaurant chain does not use tuna at all in its tuna sandwiches.
Discover our latest podcast
As a result of this accusation, the New York Times commissioned a lab to test more than 1.5 metre of the popular restaurant chain's tuna sandwich.
The sandwich analysis
From three Subway branches in Los Angeles, the laboratory analysed samples to find out whether the sandwiches contained any of the five known tuna species.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 15 species of fish can be declared as tuna. According to Subway, they use listao and yellowfin tuna. The lab result reads:
No tuna DNA could be detected in the samples, so we didn't get any amplification product at all. And so we could not detect any species.
According to the laboratory spokesperson, this can mean two things: The product could be processed to such an extent that it is impossible to detect tuna in Subway's sandwishes.
Or there is simply no tuna in the sandwiches. Cooking changes the DNA of tuna, which could falsify the results, adds the New York Times.
Subway is not aware of any fault
In January, the plaintiffs, referring to independent test results, state that the sandwiches use a mixture that resembles tuna. Subway denies this allegation to People magazine:
Subway supplies its restaurants with 100% cooked tuna, which is mixed with mayonnaise and used in freshly made sandwiches, wraps and salads and served to our customers, who appreciate it.
Following these results, the two plaintiffs have not withdrawn their charges, but they have adjusted them. The current indictment now has a slightly different wording.
According to it, a sandwich would not be made of 100% tuna and the fish would not be fished in a sustainable way. So best to wait and see what the court case will reveal.
Apart from this still unsolved tuna scandal, it is advisable to be aware of whether tuna, and especially canned tuna, is good for your health.
And that's not the only unsavory thing to have happened with tuna. For example, this woman discovered something in her tuna can that she would never have expected!
