There is something nasty about the sandwiches and wraps of the tuna salad, but according to the lawsuit against the fast food sketches, there is no real fish on the menu items.
What Subway calls tuna is a “mixture of different concoctions that do not constitute tuna, but were put together by defendants to mimic the appearance of tuna”, according to the charge sheet.
The lawsuit was filed last week on behalf of two California residents, Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. , “based on its labeling.
“Consumers are constantly misled into buying the products for the well-known and / or advertised benefits and features of tuna, when in fact there can be no such benefits, as the products are in fact without tuna,” the lawsuit reads.
“Perform tests”
Alex Brown, a lawyer at the Lanier law firm representing Dhanowa and Amin in the case, said they were trying to determine which ingredients were used in Subway’s tuna. “We are doing tests to find out what it is. The laboratory tests have so far only told us what it is not,” he said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch.
A company spokesman denied the claims set out in the lawsuit. “There is simply no truth to the allegations in the lawsuit filed in California,” Maggie Truax, director of Global PR, said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. “Subway delivers 100% cooked tuna to its restaurants,” mixed with mayonnaise and used in freshly made sandwiches, wraps and salads that our guests serve and enjoy. “
According to the company’s website, the tuna salad in the chain’s sandwiches is made with flaked tuna in brine, mayonnaise and a flavoring additive.
“Unfortunately, this lawsuit is part of a trend in which the plaintiffs’ attorneys have targeted the food industry in an attempt to make a name for themselves in the space,” Truax said.
If certified as a class action, it could potentially represent thousands of Subway customers who purchased tuna sandwiches or sandwiches in California after January 21, 2017, where it has 2,266 seats.
The case is not the first legal dispute that has raised questions about Subway’s products. Ireland’s Supreme Court ruled in September that the bread that Subway uses in its sandwiches cannot legally be called bread because of its high sugar content. And in 2017, an appeals court issued a settlement agreement over allegations that the chain’s “footlong subs” were an inch shy of the advertised length.