Gluten-Free food at Subway?

Posted on by Standard

I recently came across an article that is at once good news and quite annoying…

Food Allergy Daily | Subway Now Testing Gluten-Free

On one hand, it’s great news that they’re finally recognizing a food allergy.  On the other, it almost angers me that they haven’t dealt with the shellfish issue that I have been telling them about for years.  (Literally… over the span of more than a few years, and through dozens of letters and emails.)

This part is quite amusing…

Employees will be educated on how to cut the bread using a pre-wrapped knife to avoid cross contamination.

Perhaps they read my dog-turd analogy?  In a response to that, My friend Ms. Gomez had assured me that they already wash all utensils to avoid cross-contamination.  Apparently this is not the case… or they wouldn’t need new training and a “pre-wrapped knife”.  (Besides the fact that I have seen the sandwich artists “wash” a knife after cutting a sandwich… with a dirty dish-rag.  To me, this doesn’t constitute washing.)

Although, one of the past letters did say this…

I have gone ahead and copied our Training Department so that further lessons can be addressed with owners and their employees on proper handling.

Maybe I’m the one who got the ball rolling here?

My favorite letter to Subway: https://aixelsyd13.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/five-five-dollar-five-dollar-foot-up-your-ass/

Check out my review of a local Subway on UrbanSpoon: http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/23/271709/restaurant/Dormont/Subway-Banksville-Plaza-by-Kuhns-Pittsburgh

I’m going to have to write to them again, and ask a few questions… like if they’ve already been trained in cross-contamination, what’s this new training for?  And… why are they going gluten-free and ignoring the people with allergies to shellfish, peanuts, eggs, and the other “top 8“?

13 thoughts on “Gluten-Free food at Subway?”

  1. Pingback: Prepping for Food Allergy Awareness Week 2011 | World (and Lunar) Domination

  2. Ahhhh! EXCITEMENT!

    ha. There’s not many places I can eat out anymore. There are one or two things I can have at mad mex and p.f changs has gluten free/veg menu and aladdins, I think qdoba too but, meh.

    Happiness is a veggie delight.

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    • This is true… but they’re singling out one sort of special food need group while ignoring a great many others. While it’s a great step, I also feel it’s somewhat agitating to the rest of us afflicted with a need to avoid certain foods.

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      • I guess the reason for this would be that the majority of what Subway’s menu is based on is bread. No bread? No sub. So if anyone who has an immune system catastrophe anytime a bread crumb gets into their food wants to eat at (read as “give their money to”) Subway, the company has to come up with some way to make this happen.

        The difference between this and the shellfish problem is that if employees are ACTUALLY TRAINED thoroughly on how to handle the crab salad concoction, and what the risks actually are, and follow the proper procedures from then on, people with allergies can still eat there. A Celiac person might as well just buy lunch meat at Giant Eagle and put it on a plate at home.

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      • (Granted, the risks for gluten contamination and shellfish contamination are extremely different. Though it’s severely unpleasant, most Celiacs aren’t going to die from cross-contamination, whereas people with shellfish allergies could.)

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        • Yeah, I certainly wouldn’t want to go through unnecessary gastrointestinal distress or anaphylactic shock… and one shouldn’t have to be afraid of either every time they want to be adventurous enough to dine out.

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