Source: CCTV Finance
At the beginning of this year, the American fast food chain Subway was sued for deceiving consumers in the use of ingredients such as tuna sandwiches, and the plaintiffs claimed that the so-called tuna sandwiches did not actually have tuna ingredients. In recent days, Subway urged a U.S. federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the plaintiffs' allegations were unfounded.
A court filing filed by Subway noted that the plaintiffs had not provided any facts to support their "flippant" claim that Subway products did not contain "100% sustainably caught bonito and yellowfin tuna." Subway also said the plaintiffs' lawyers should be sanctioned because their actions were "intolerable," citing the negative media coverage caused by the lawsuit that affected the sales of Subway's best-selling products and hurt a large number of Subway franchisees.
Previously, the New York Times had reported that no tuna DNA had been found in Subway's tuna sandwich.
On January 21 this year, Subway was sued in California, saying that the raw ingredients of tuna sandwiches it sold were "tuna-free." Through a team of lawyers, the plaintiffs in the case accused Subway of "adulterating" products, making huge profits, and violating California law. According to the lawsuit documents, the so-called "tuna" in Subway's store is a mixture of various raw materials that do not contain tuna, but are mixed together by Subway to imitate the appearance of tuna.
However, the plaintiff's representative did not specify the composition of the fish used by Subway. On June 7, the plaintiffs' amended indictment removed the "no tuna" statement, but insisted that Subway's "malicious" labeling, marketing and advertising of its tuna products were false and misleading.
Marion Nestel, Professor of Food and Nutrition at New York University, USA: I think the lawsuit against Subway is complicated, the consumers who sued said that Subway tuna sandwich did not have tuna, but they did not say what kind of fish was used, and they did not explain how they learned that Subway products did not have tuna, which is the complexity of this case.