Opting for a chicken sandwich at a fast food restaurant often seems like a satisfying option. But you might be getting half what you pay for at your local Subway sandwich shop.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently got DNA researchers at Trent University’s Wildlife Forensic DNA Laboratory to test the chicken at several popular fast food chains, including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Tim Horton’s and Subway.
An unadultered piece of meat that you buy at the supermarket should test at 100 percent chicken DNA. But according to the lab, it’s common for meat that has been seasoned or marinated to register a slightly lower score.
For all the samples they tested, researchers found that most of the scores were between 85 and 90 percent chicken DNA. Everywhere, except at Subway.
On average, Subway’s chicken fillets contained just 53.6 percent chicken DNA. Worse, their chicken strips had only 42.8 percent chicken DNA, according to the CBC Marketplace investigation.
The other half? Soy DNA.
The findings were so surprising that the lab team ran another round of tests, but found similar results after the second biopsy.
The disconcerting discovery prompted Subway to issue an official statement, calling the results into question.
“SUBWAY Canada cannot confirm the veracity of the results of the lab testing you had conducted,” the company said.
“Our recipe calls for one per cent or less of soy protein in our chicken products. We use this ingredient in these products as a means to help stabilize the texture and moisture” they added.
The company nonetheless pledged to investigate the matter further, starting with their supplier.
In the meantime, you might want to look differently at your Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki.
