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DNA Test Shows Subway's 'Chicken' Only Contains 50 Percent Chicken (arstechnica.com)
According to an investigation by Canadian media outlet, CBC, the chicken in Subway Restaurants' chicken sandwiches may only contain around 50 percent chicken -- the rest of it is soy, spices and preservatives. The investigation involved DNA testing chicken sandwiches collected from five popular fast food restaurants. While the rest of the sandwiches contained mostly chicken, Subway's oven-roasted chicken and the chicken strips in its Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich clocked in with just 53.6 percent and 42.8 percent chicken, respectively. Ars Technica reports: Among all the chicken sampled, there was a total of about 50 ingredients other than chicken identified. The chicken samples had an average of 16 ingredients. Some of the ingredients are expected, such as salt and other seasonings. But many were commercial preservatives and fillers. One commonality was that they all had high levels of salt. Subway responded to the CBC in a statement: "SUBWAY Canada cannot confirm the veracity of the results of the lab testing you had conducted. However, we are concerned by the alleged findings you had conducted." You can read the full statement here.
The companies in question - Wendy's, Subway, McDonalds, Tim Horton's - responded HERE.
Their responses sound reasonable, so either they are lying or the "DNA tests" are not accurate.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
It is impossible to get any processed food that is not laden with salt and sugar. It contributes to high blood pressure and diabetes. Do the food companies care? Or will shipping "product" take precedence over their customers' health?
Piffle! That's a totally wrong spin! According to TFA, most of the other 50% is soy — the famously humane and environment-friendly replacement for meat.
Restaurants should proudly admit to being ahead of their customers on both counts — and wow to make their sandwiches 90% meat-free by 2050, or something like that.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
They obviously used alternative chickens, duh!
Yes, read the response, but like all communications from large companies, you have to read it critically
For example, from the end of Subway's response:
We will look into this again with our supplier to ensure that the chicken is meeting the high standard we set for all of our menu items and ingredients.
Translate this into normal english and it is "We do not adequately QA our supply chain & our lowest-bid supplier is giving us a chicken/soy blend. We only care about this because we just got caught out"
My pics.
I enjoy meat myself - but accept that the meat industry is historically filled with some of the worst intentions on the face of the planet. There's a reason that one of the big counters to libertarian philosophy is historical regulation of the meat industry... if they can get away with it, you'd better believe that the industry is going to break just about every rule, custom, ethical guideline and concept of decent human interaction possible.
Meat, it ain't pretty, it's rarely pure (the fish industry is nigh-hilarious with how it labels things), but it's still an important part of our filthy culture.
Cutting a 50% mix of soy into chicken isn't shocking compared to most things - and actually matches what I remember of that particular flavor whenever I decided to try chicken again at Subway. Now that I've gotten better at cooking for myself, I find a $6 footlong to be actually a fairly expensive sandwich.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go make a nice couple of egg/bacon/veggie sandwiches. I'm sure it's not completely ethical, and likely contains some genetic engineering (ooh, scary), but for the price, it's a marvel of modern industry and flavor!
Ryan Fenton
I have cut up a lot of chickens. Never seen any chicken parts that look remotely like Subways. Clearly extruded food, like a chicken 'nugget'.
McDonald's and Wendy's claim to be serving 'chicken breasts'. I don't eat McShits, but the Chicken at Wendy's does look like an actual chicken breast, just a very small one.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
We recognize that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so our imitation chicken is leading us all into a new, more courageous* future, where we will be 100%, BRAVE, not CHICKEN!
"courageous" is the intellectual property of Apple Inc. "chicken" includes, but is not limited to, dog, cat, yeast, nuclear waste, chicken feathers, beaks, claws, recycled newspaper (for that genuine cardboard-y takeout taste).May include nuts. May not include chicken..
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
FAKE NEWS!
Of course it's fake news. It's about fake chicken!!!.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Obviously you didn't read the article OR watch the show. They explain their methodology and you can clearly see how fake the Subway chicken looks. They also re-did the Subway test to make sure it wasn't an anomaly, buying another bunch of take-outs and having them tested as well.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
"However, we are concerned by the alleged findings you had conducted."
Is that even a sentence? The findings are not alleged, they are real. You get to say a guy was allegedly killed with an alleged bullet. You can say the alleged killer is Whatsisname because that hasn't been proven. However if a lab signs off on a DNA analysis I can say it's real all I want - if it turns out that it's not then the LAB is in trouble, not me, because the lab certified the results.
And you don't "conduct findings". Wow, I'm worried that Subway let the junior PR person handle this.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Well, I'm personally relieved. I wouldn't want anything that was made with some percentage of unreal chicken.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
The CBC had a show on this, with taste testers. And everyone on the show could tell how low quality and horrible the 50% chicken was.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
CBC is not a "media outlet". It is Canada's national broadcaster. And it does a damned good job on its news and public affairs, routinely shaming the US networks with its national and international coverage.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
eating subway. Lots of folks can't handle processed soy protein.
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Salt, sugar, water, and the various other chemical additives don't have DNA. The article is about % DNA. So it's actually worse than one might think. Brine + chicken would come out as 100% chicken. Decent chicken should be 90% even when seasoned and that's close to what a few of the manufacturers actually had. The 43.5% on subway strips should be criminal.
Is it me, or does it seem like you are getting mostly bread and paying more for it? Don't get me wrong. The other sub making sandwich companies are many times worse than Subway, those guys empty your wallet and fail to fill your stomach. With their "fancy name, or appearance" sub sandwiches.
Unreal Chicken. Isn't that the code name for the upcoming flavor based interface for the Unreal Engine?
Why is Snark Required?
New Subway spokesweasel Kellyanne Conway says that Subway is just offering "alternative chicken".
Their QA is probably working just fine. They probably actually SPECIFIED the formula that was uncovered by the DNA tests, in order to cut costs.