Our tuna is real tuna, Subway insists, rejecting exposs fishy DNA tests – The Guardian

In yet another twist in a fishy tale, the fast-food chain Subway is pushing back once again against its tuna critics, launching a website in defense of its popular sandwich.

The site, subwaytunafacts.com, declares in block capitals Subway tuna is real tuna, with real underlined, with the company countering a claim made in June by a New York Times investigation that Subways tuna may not, in fact, be real.

A New York Times-commissioned lab test earlier this year acquired over 60in worth of Subway tuna sandwiches from three Los Angeles stores and engaged a specialized fish-testing lab. The results failed to identify a species, having found no tuna DNA, the newspaper reported.

According to a lab spokesperson, the Times noted: Theres two conclusions. One, its so heavily processed that whatever we could pull out, we couldnt make an identification. Or we got some and theres just nothing there thats tuna.

On its newly launched website, Subway rejects the premise of the story, stating: What actually happened is that the New York Times commissioned a test that couldnt detect tuna DNA in their sample. According to scientific experts, this is not unusual when testing cooked tuna and it absolutely doesnt mean the sample that was tested contained zero tuna.

In addition, the website argues that the New York Times conclusion lacked important context surrounding the limitations of DNA testing of denatured proteins, indicating that the process of cooking and packaging tuna ultimately breaks down DNA fragments, thus making it difficult to accurately test for the processed fish.

Subwaytunafacts.com also provides a breakdown of the companys quality control mechanisms that include the Seafood Import Monitoring Programs requirement of complete tuna traceability, as well as multiple authenticity certificates associated with its tuna.

The New York Times is not the first to question the authenticity of Subways tuna. In January, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Subway in California that claimed the sandwich giants popular tuna subs were completely bereft of tuna as an ingredient and were rather a mixture of various concoctions.

The plaintiffs have since walked back on their original claims and instead now claim that Subways tuna is not 100% wild-caught skipjack and yellowfin tuna. Subways new website also rejects these claims, calling them equally wrong and a reckless and improper attack on its brand and goodwill.

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Our tuna is real tuna, Subway insists, rejecting exposs fishy DNA tests - The Guardian