There’s something heavy on 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 bills as tuna is a “mixture of various preparations that do not constitute tuna, but have been mixed by the defendants to mimic the appearance of tuna,” according to the complaint.
Filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern California District on behalf of two California residents, Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin, the lawsuit alleges that the two “were tricked into buying food that was completely lacking in ingredients. that they reasonably believed they were buying, “based on their labeling.
“Consumers are constantly deceived when buying products for the commonly known and / or advertised benefits and characteristics of tuna when, in fact, these benefits could not be obtained, since the products do not have tuna,” he says. the demand.
“Testing”
Alex Brown, a lawyer for the Lanier law firm representing Dhanowa and Amin in the case, said they are trying to determine what ingredients are used in Subway tuna. “We’re conducting tests to find out what it is. Lab tests so far have only told us what it’s not,” he said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch.
A company spokesman denied the claims exposed in the lawsuit. “There’s simply no truth to the allegations filed in California,” Global PR director Maggie Truax said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. “Subway delivers 100% cooked tuna to its restaurants, which is mixed with mayonnaise and used in sandwiches, wraps and freshly made salads that our guests serve and enjoy.”
According to the company’s website, the tuna salad from the chain’s sandwiches is made with flaked tuna in brine, mayonnaise and a flavor-protecting additive.
“Unfortunately, this lawsuit is part of a trend in which the plaintiffs’ attorneys for the aforementioned plaintiffs have targeted the food industry in an effort to make a name for themselves in this space, ”Truax said.
If certified as a class action, the lawsuit could represent thousands of Subway customers who bought tuna sandwiches or wraps after Jan. 21, 2017 in California, where it has 2,266 locations.
The lawsuit is not the first legal dispute to raise questions about Subway products. Supreme Court of Ireland in September he ruled that the bread Subway uses in their sandwiches could not be legally called bread because of its high sugar content. And in 2017, an appeals court launched a collective agreement on the chain’s “foot subs” claims a shy inch of the announced length.