Fishy Business: 'No Actual Tuna' In Subway Tuna Sandwich Declare Lab Results

If you love a Subway tuna sandwich, then you are in for a rude shock. Apparently, a lab test commissioned by the New York Times found no trace of tuna DNA in a few samples of Subway¡¯s tuna sandwiches.

In its own statement, the fast-food giant fired back at the report and said it was not a ¡°reliable way¡± to test processed tuna.

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To investigate the ingredients of the famous sandwich, a New York Times reporter bought more than 60 inches of Subway tuna sandwiches from three stores in Los Angeles and put them to a specialised fish-testing lab for a DNA test.

The newspaper said it paid about $500 for the lab to conduct a PCR test in order to see if Subway¡¯s tuna included one of five different tuna species.

Interestingly, researchers in the lab were unable to identify traces of any species in the sandwiches.

"There¡¯s two conclusions, one, it's so heavily processed that whatever we could pull out, we couldn¡¯t make an identification," a lab spokesperson was quoted by the Times. "Or we got some and there's just nothing there that¡¯s tuna."

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Experts also told the Times that when tuna is cooked, its DNA becomes denatured, which means that the tuna¡¯s characteristic properties can become destroyed and make it difficult or impossible to identify.

The matter came to light when two customers filed a class-action lawsuit in January alleging that Subway¡¯s tuna sandwiches are made from "anything but tuna¡±. They claimed the sandwiches are "made from a mixture of various concoctions¡±, ingredients "blended together ¡­ to imitate the appearance of tuna".

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The two plaintiffs of the complaint, Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin, sued Subway for fraud, intentional misrepresentation, unjust enrichment and other claims, according to The Washington Post.

After the accusation, Subway started advertising their sandwiches as "100% real wild-caught tuna" on its website and even offered a 15 per cent discount with promo code "ITSREAL".

Also read: Owner Of A Japanese Restaurant Buys A Tuna Fish For Almost Rs 13 Crore At An Auction!