• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
The Healthy Home Economist

The Healthy Home Economist

embrace your right to a lifetime of health

Get Plus
  • Home
  • About
  • My Books
  • Shopping List
  • Archives
  • Log in
  • Get Plus
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Get Plus
  • Log in
  • Home
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Archives
  • My Books
  • Shopping List
  • Recipes
  • Healthy Living
  • Natural Remedies
  • Green Living
  • Videos
  • Natural Remedies
  • Health
  • Green Living
  • Recipes
  • Videos
  • Subscribe
Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Healthy Living / Subway Chicken Sandwiches and Strips Test 50% or Less Actual Chicken

Subway Chicken Sandwiches and Strips Test 50% or Less Actual Chicken

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

subway chicken sandwiches

If you’ve been eating Subway chicken sandwiches thinking they are a healthier choice than fast food, you might want to rethink that strategy.

An investigation by CBC Marketplace has revealed that the chain’s “oven-roasted chicken” is actually only 53.6% chicken. The chicken strips tested even worse with only 42.8% actual chicken.

What is the composition of most of the remainder? Cheap, hormone-disrupting, soy protein, confirmed by over 170 scientific studies to be problematic to health.

What’s more, the soy used is almost certainly genetically modified (GMO). This adds another level of concern for consumers who are buying this food for themselves or their families. This article on avoiding GMOs includes preliminary data on how frankenfoods contribute to a wide variety of ailments.

The Wildlife Forensic DNA Laboratory at Trent University conducted the tests. Comparative testing for grocery store chicken contained 100% chicken. Shockingly, “chicken” from Subway’s competitors contained 85-90% chicken. Marinated, seasoned and processed chicken is expected to test a bit lower than 100%.

The four other chains tested included Wendy’s, McDonald’s, A&W, and Tim Horton’s. Ironically, some of these restaurants are usually perceived by consumers as lower quality than Subway. It seems that Subway’s reputation as a healthier choice than Mickey D’s does not reflect reality at least when it comes to chicken!

The Subway test results were so much lower in actual chicken than the competitors that additional testing was done to be sure it wasn’t a fluke. Further testing results continued the pattern with an overall average of about 54% chicken for the sandwich and 43% for the strips.

Subway Chicken Sandwiches Made of Pink Slime?

Ben Bohrer is a food scientist at the University of Guelph. He states that he is very familiar with what the food industry calls “restructured products” although he admits that he doesn’t know how Subway actually makes its “chicken”.

Consumers refer to this food substance as “pink slime”. Leaked pictures of pink slime oozing like Twistee Treat soft-serve ice cream into boxes on factory assembly lines went viral in 2010. Food manufacturers apparently didn’t get the picture to change their ways at that time despite consumer outrage.

Restructured products, including the pink slime variety, are essentially smaller pieces of meat or ground meat. The meat is mixed with additives, chemicals, lots of MSG, and fillers like soy protein to make it last longer and taste better. The bottom line is that meat is cheaper and more profitable when processed this way.

According to Fooducate, chicken paste is the result of cleaning every bit of meat off the chicken bones. This is accomplished by passing it through a high-pressure sieve. The taste is so disgusting that artificial neurotoxic flavors like MSG and many other additives are mixed in to make it acceptable to the consumer. The color is very odd and unappetizing requiring the cover of artificial colors too.

It’s no surprise that the resulting slime is a huge bacteria risk. A thorough soaking in ammonia is reportedly used to de-germ it. The slime is then used to make a wide variety of chicken-like products.

Subway’s Response to the Testing Results

Why is Subway using restructured meat to make it’s chicken sandwiches and strips? Subway would only say the following in a carefully spun statement after being apprised of the results:

Our recipe calls for one per cent or less of soy protein in our chicken products.

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.

Hopefully, Subway will provide more information on these alarming tests at a future date. About 50 ingredients were found in the tested sandwiches with an average of 16 ingredients in the chicken itself.  While Bohrer insists that all of them are safe and government approved for human consumption, smart consumers would do well to question that.

If you want chicken, best to stick with the homecooked kind. Buying into restaurant chicken’s false “halo of health” as described by registered dietician Christy Brissette is a recipe for getting scammed at best, hormonally disrupted at worst.

I personally rarely order chicken in a restaurant! Steak and wild-caught seafood are usually the safest choices on the menu. This is particularly true if you are eating at a chain. This article provides helpful tips on how to order steak in a restaurant to ensure you get what you are expecting!

Picture Credit

FacebookPinEmailPrint
Category: Healthy Living
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

You May Also Like

quick oats vs soaked on the counter

Precooked Quick Oats vs Soaked Oats

At Last! A Magazine Truly Worth the Read

plant based meat patty containing double GMO

Impossible Burger Contains “Double GMOs”

vegetarianism

Why Vegetarianism is Not Healthy!

Sarah's 11 Favorite Things - 2017 1

Sarah’s 11 Favorite Things – 2017

The Truth About LDL “Bad” Cholesterol (another health psyop bites the dust)

Feeling Tired More Than You Should?

Get a free chapter of my book Get Your Fats Straight + my weekly newsletter and learn which fats to eat (and which to avoid) to reduce sugar cravings and improve energy significantly!

We send no more than one email per week. You will never be spammed or your email sold, ever.
Loading

Reader Interactions

Comments (3)

  1. AB

    Apr 28, 2017 at 10:39 am

    So what recourse do consumers have for being unwittingly fed something that many actively try to avoid due to allergies, thyroid health concerns, etc?

    Reply
  2. Shakil Ahmmed

    Mar 17, 2017 at 6:27 am

    Chicken & Sandwiches for health benefits ?

    Reply
  3. Thank you

    Mar 3, 2017 at 4:45 am

    Oh my gosh I’ve eaten the chicken lately (in the middle of a major move/hectic!) It did seem soft for a chicken strip, so I figured it was like pressed chicken. still thought we were doing “better” than the other fast food. But this is just awful! I will not be returning to subway.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Sidebar

Mother Nature’s Medicine Cabinet

5 Secrets to a Strong Immune System

Loading

The Healthy Home Economist

Since 2002, Sarah has been a Health and Nutrition Educator dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. Read More

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Check Out My Books

Mother Nature’s Medicine Cabinet

5 Secrets to a Strong Immune System

Loading

Contact the Healthy Home Economist. The information on this website has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease. By accessing or using this website, you agree to abide by the Terms of Service, Full Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Affiliate Disclosure, and Comment Policy.

Copyright © 2009–2025 · The Healthy Home Economist · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc.