As much as Subway would have you believe that they provide fresh food in every single one of their stores, the chances of this being true is extraordinarily slim – and we have the evidence to prove it.
Although everything looks plentifully bright and colourful and all smells fresh in-store, these are simply clever sales strategies to lure you into the store (the smell) and influence your buying behaviour (with the bright colours signifying ‘health’).
Would you like some carrot with your chemicals?
In front of you is a smorgasboard of cut vegetables – note how I don’t say ‘fresh-cut’ vegetables as they’re not freshly cut… they’re prepped elsewhere and then shipped over in boxes to individual Subway stores. During the prepping stage, chemicals, colours, additives and preservatives are added to the humble veg to improve visibility and longevity on the shelf. For example – the black olives are doused in ferrous gluconate which maintains their dark colouring.
But really though, is it so difficult to buy in fresh vegetables and cut them on the premises, simply cutting what you need and retaining the whole piece of veg for the next day if need be. I understand this is a large company, but cutting corners like this is producing below-par products with veg that is of a particularly poor standard.
Fake meats are no better than a dog’s dinner
Several marketing campaigns by Subway have used athlete spokesmen to promote their ‘healthy’ and ‘nutritious’ sandwiches. These athletes tended to choose the protein-rich versions, such as the low-cal deli turkey meat. However, as much as they’d have you believe they are sliced up just like in a deli (you know… fresh), they’re essentially just the factory-produced processed meats you’re likely to find cheaply priced in your supermarket. These are usually cheap as they have less meat than they should and instead are filled with bulking agents, fillers, processing aids, and preservatives, including MSG which gives the gorgeous fake meat flavour to these fake meats.
If you’re still convinced Subway’s meat is absolutely fine, try feeding a Sub to your dog. Chances are they’ll give it a good sniff beforehand and are likely to snap at the sides of it, if they haven’t already strolled off. That’s because even a dog knows it’s not real meat. Their dog bowl is probably more protein-rich with more nutrients than the sandwich you just bought.
Bread with no more than 102 ingredients
For me, the bread is the biggie. Most people actively avoid bread either because they don’t like the bloating, the carb content, the sugar and salt content, or they’re avoiding gluten. Whatever the reasoning, bread has had a hard time – which I can only blame on the supermarket and fast food industry. On the face of it, bread should contain 3 ingredients – yeast, salt and flour – anything else added to it is there just to keep it fluffy, looking fresh and then some more ingredients to get over the bad taste produced by these preservatives. That’s why the majority of the bread you can buy is bad for you, and anything you make yourself at home (which takes no time at all, it’s simply just a lot of proving time) is fine. Check out the best IBS friendly breads here.
Subway, however, do not provide anything fresh in terms of their bread. All their bread is delivered frozen from a factory (so no better than the stuff you buy from the supermarket), is thawed in store (yum) and then baked. So when you walk into a Subway and feel at home with the smell, it’s not freshness, it’s moreso warmed bulking agents.
Love Subway bread’s fluffiness? Thank the sodium stearoyl lactylate for that, that’s one of your dough conditioners.
Judging the bread’s freshness on its whiteness? Then I suggest you don’t – Subway bread is bleached with chemicals like azodicarbonamide for that ‘just out of the oven’ look.
Wonder why Subway gives you belly ache? That’s because Subway use a dough conditioner called ammonium sulfate which has been linked to respiratory and digestive disease.
Ever wonder why a 6” sub doesn’t fill you? That because the meat is pump[ed full of water to hold the modified food starch and soy protein concehntrate together “chicken type flavor” made from autolyzed yeast extract and hyrolyzed corn gluten
A combination of all of these nasties to make the bread appear fresh is the reason why you’ll probably find that a) all the bread varieties taste the same and b) you will never distinctly remember the taste of the bread you just ate. Just take a look at the bread ingredients below:
For this post, there really is no conclusion – apart from one thing… Eat Fresh means everything but, so make your own sandwiches, maybe even make your own bread, and don’t rely on money-grabbing franchises for your ‘healthy’ lunch. You’ll not reap any benefits, only huge digestive consequences.
My Wellbeing Journal 