Revealing Facts About Subway You Won't Be Able To Unsee

There's one  popular fast food chain that dominates the market in the United States, and it's not McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's. It's actually Subway, that haven of deli meats and often questionably fresh vegetables, all waiting to be stacked on soft, squishy bread and devoured alongside a bag of chips. Subway is an omnipresent fact of American life, whether you visit the chain often or not, as it pops up on seemingly every busy (and even some not-so-busy) street corner in the country. But even if you're a Subway regular, there's probably a lot about the company you don't know.

Like most major publicly traded companies, Subway has some serious stains on its past, from labor rights violations to imprisoned spokespersons. But the chain isn't advertising those facts alongside its famous five-dollar footlongs. Let's take a closer look at the company, diving into its past and present, to get a more accurate picture of the role it plays in American culinary culture. You may just never look at the chain the same way again.

When you're eating a sandwich, you probably don't feel like you're indulging in a meal that's very sugary. After all, as long as it's a savory sandwich, you're not eating anything sweet, right? Well, not necessarily, especially when it comes to Subway's sandwiches. Of course, a lot of processed foods we eat on a regular basis — even savory ones — contain hidden sugar, so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that Subway's bread also packs a lot of sugar. But the chain's bread has so much sugar that in Ireland, it's legally not even considered bread but is rather designated as cake.

According to Irish law, bread should contain no more than two percent sugar. Subway's bread, though, comes in at a whopping 10 percent sugar. Now, we're not against indulging in a sweet treat when you're craving one, but there doesn't seem to be any good reason why there's so much sugar in Subway's bread when it's supposed to be the basis of a savory meal. If you still love the taste of your Subway sandwich even despite the shockingly high sugar content, go ahead and enjoy. But if you're watching your sugar intake, you may want to visit a local sandwich shop instead.

When you order food from a restaurant — chain or not — you actually want to get what you're ordering. But Subway has been accused of lying about its ingredients multiple times, causing some customers to question what it is, exactly, that they're eating. Back in 2017, a consumer program tested the DNA of Subway's chicken and found that it was only half actual meat. The rest of the product was made with soy. Not only is this annoying for those who want a clear picture of what they're putting into their bodies, but it could also potentially cause allergy issues for those sensitive to soy. Subway claimed that these allegations were not true.

Another lawsuit coming out of California claimed that the tuna salad was not actually made with tuna at all, but rather with a completely different ingredient. You might assume that this other, unnamed ingredient is still seafood, but that's not entirely clear, either — the lawsuit claimed that the tuna was not actually made with fish at all. Again, Subway denied these claims, and the lawsuit was dropped in 2023. Still, these claims make us feel wary about what we're actually getting when we order from Subway.

For years, Jared Fogle was the face of Subway. The man claimed to have lost a significant amount of weight — 245 pounds, to be exact — by primarily eating Subway sandwiches, a story that Subway embraced apparently to support its claim that eating at the chain was a healthy decision. Eventually, Fogle became a stain on the company's reputation when he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for charges of child pornography and sex. The chain had used Fogle's story and likeness for over 10 years before his arrest and sentencing.

The chain scrambled to distance itself from Fogle once his crimes had surfaced, scrubbing his imagery from promotional materials. And, of course, the sandwich chain is not responsible for Fogle's reprehensible actions. That association, though, represents a major stain on the company's reputation, and the revelation of Fogle's crimes came at a time of financial woes for the company anyway. These days, Subway no longer has a spokesperson, likely recognizing that it was not worth the risk to associate with someone who may or may not represent the company responsibly.

It's no secret that many companies will try to get away with labor violations that benefit them, and, unfortunately, new immigrants are often more at risk of falling victim to these violations than American citizens. Subway is one such company that is facing allegations of unethical working conditions from immigrant employees. One immigrant from Nepal who worked at a San Francisco Subway said that in the nine months he worked at the restaurant, he didn't receive a single pay stub, instead receiving payment in cash, which is illegal. Not only were his payments allegedly not handled properly, but he also claimed that he worked extremely hard, often not even able to take bathroom breaks. Because he didn't know about U.S. labor rights, like sick pay and overtime, he was left vulnerable to illegal working conditions.

Six other SF Subways have come under fire for various labor violations, including paying well under San Francisco's minimum wage. Apparently, though, this isn't just happening in San Francisco. Advocates for immigrant workers' rights say that Subway franchises have a pattern of mistreating their immigrant employees.

Regardless of where an employee is born, they deserve access to the same labor rights and protections to which American workers are legally entitled. Knowing that Subway has been accused of this kind of exploitation makes us think twice about frequenting the chain.

Hungry for shoe rubber? Or your yoga mat? Probably not, unless you have some especially strange taste buds. But in 2014, a food blogger pointed out the fact that Subway was using a substance called azodicarbonamide in its bread. This substance is also found in shoe rubber, yoga mats, and other very non-edible consumer products. Although the FDA has indicated that it's safe to use in the amounts Subway was apparently utilizing, it can become carcinogenic under the right conditions and in the right amounts.

Subway isn't the only food company to have used this substance — many other processed food manufacturers have listed azodicarbonamide as an additive in their products. And Subway itself claims that the ingredient was no longer featured in its bread as of April 2014. We're glad that we're no longer munching on the stuff in shoe rubber when we eat a Subway sandwich, but knowing it was included in the ingredients list in the first place may be a turn-off for some.

When workers go above and beyond to work more hours than generally expected, they deserve to be compensated for that time. This is where the concept of overtime comes into play. This is a policy meant to pay workers extra for working an excess of hours, and it's a legal requirement for companies to meet. Some Massachusetts Subway locations, though, were not paying their workers overtime — and now, they're being required to pay back wages.

These Subway locations were all located in central Massachusetts, and the owner of these six separate locations is now required to pay 12 employees a total of $63,000, along with paying a fine. Hopefully, those recovered wages help those employees make up for the injustices they faced — and find a better job somewhere else. However, since these violations took place from 2020 to 2021, it does seem like they're finding justice just a little too late.

When you follow a specific diet in accordance with your religious beliefs, it can sometimes be difficult to eat out at popular chain restaurants that don't generally accommodate those dietary restrictions. That's seemingly why Subway attempted to create kosher locations to appeal to the observant Jewish community. Unfortunately, though, the attempt at creating a more inclusive chain of eateries didn't exactly go as planned.

These Jewish food restaurants were only supposed to be tweaked from the original. For instance, they would completely abstain from using any products made from pork, and instead of using dairy cheese, they would opt for soy cheese instead. Considering that Subway's business model relies so heavily on individual ingredients instead of specifically prepared dishes, this doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to pull off. However, it turns out that the chain faced some challenges with its kosher locations. These locations had higher prices, which most consumers didn't want to pay, and the company didn't provide the kosher stores with any needed additional support. Only five years after the 15 kosher locations opened, 10 of them had already closed. Today, no kosher Subways remain.

These days, college in the United States is exorbitantly expensive. Unless you're lucky enough to have your parents footing the bill for you, you'll probably need to take out a loan to get a degree. But back in the day, it wasn't so hard to come up with the cash to get a good education. Still, though, some students had to get creative to come up with a way to pay for school, which was exactly the case for Subway's founder, Fred DeLuca. The 17-year-old asked a family friend, Dr. Peter Buck, for advice about how to make enough money to pay for his tuition. Dr. Buck's response? Open up a sandwich shop!

Buck gave DeLuca an investment of $1,000, which he used to open up the very first Subway in Connecticut in 1965. The premise of the restaurant was basically the same as that of the popular sandwich chain today: making customizable sandwiches for cheap. Well, not only did it turn out to be a good way to pay for college, but DeLuca became more successful than he probably ever could've imagined at just 17 years old. I'm not sure how smart of a strategy it would be to try to pull off the same feat today, but back in 1965, a single sandwich shop paved the way for massive success for this one teenager.

Subway's promotion for $5 footlongs may be one of the most iconic deals in fast food history. After all, you could get a huge sandwich for just a few bucks, which seemed like an amazing deal when it first came out. And, arguably, it was a good deal, although you may not have actually been getting an actual foot of sandwich. According to Mashed, one Australian teenager actually measured out his footlong only to discover that it only added up to 11 inches, not 12. Subway had to go to court over the complaint.

It all came to a bunch of nothing, though. In reality, most footlongs are 12 inches long, since they're all made from dough that's been weighed out to a standard weight. Plus, the way Subway adds filling to its sandwiches means that even those who got a slightly shorter bun weren't getting any fewer fillings. The case was dropped, although Subway's image may have been somewhat tarnished by the debacle.

One of the best things about Subway is the fact that your meal there can be completely customizable. Sure, you can order off of a set menu if you don't want to deal with pointing out all of your desired toppings, but most people like the fact that they can choose every single ingredient that appears (or is omitted from) their sandwich. This method provides all the benefits of making your own sub sandwich at home without the burden of actually having those ingredients on hand or making the sandwich yourself. And with all of those customizable options come a lot of different ways to build a sandwich.

But you may not realize quite how many combinations there are. According to a post on Subway's Twitter account, there are a shocking 4.9 billion ways to order a Subway sandwich. We're certainly not envious of the person who had to do the math to get to that number, but it's good to know just how much variety you have access to when you snag a sandwich from your local Subway.