WHO: Subway
WHAT: A man says he ate a subway sandwich and it had a 7-inch serrated blade inside.
WHERE: NYC man says he found knife in Subway sandwich [AP] (Thanks to Jeff!)
THE QUOTE: “Subway restaurants spokesman Kevin Kane says food safety and customer comments are taken “very seriously” and that the company is “investigating the facts.”
“Taking it seriously” is a phrase companies use over and over again in public statements whenever they have bad PR. Our series of posts on occurrences of the phrase is our attempt to question how seriously companies are really taking these matters if every time they trot out this phrase by rote.
(Photo: Morton Fox, Getty)
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What A Difference An Inch Makes: Report Says Some Subway Footlongs Are Only 11 Inches
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What It’s Like To Work At A Subway Franchise, Get Blamed For Everything Customers Don’t Like
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Mother Probably Less Concerned With Size Of Subway Sandwich Than The Glass Shards In It
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Subway Crosses Its Heart, Swears To Die: From Now On, All Footlongs Will Indeed Be 12 Inches
And while I’m being skeptical, where are the rolls made? Why would a knife used in the preparation of the finished sandwich be in an area where dough is being formed into rolls?
People are so lucky. This guy gets a free knife, that lady got some crack in her burger, and that cop got spit AND urine in his KFC.
Life is so unfair.
@Consumerist-Moderator-Roz:
Roz – reread the “Commentor’s Code” There is nothing in there that says that comments aimed at the consumer are to be “helpful.” Only that we are to avoid commenting only to be negative. As best I can tell, this post has been mild in comparison to many others. Why you chose this one to comment in is absolutely beyond me. Perhaps you should have read the first Wal-Mart oil change post and attempted to control some of that. The anti-OP vitrol there was well beyond anything here.
This is a post that begs for some critical evaluation. The story does not make any sense. I’m incredibly OP positive in my posting.. go back and read my comments. But this is one, at first glance doesn’t add up, and upon further consideration makes even less sense.
Don’t kick me out. Again.
If they cut the finished sandwich in half on the bias (or “diagonally”) a 7 in. blade could have easily been missed. Now the slice for stuffing the innards would have been harder, but still not impossible.
@nsv: To cut those lovely little slash marks on top of the loaves!
BTW – Subway receives its ‘fresh baked bread’ in frozen logs that are dumped into the trays for baking. The size of these frozen logs would preclude containing a hidden knife.
In addition, virtually all factory processed food (the premade dough) uses scanners that scans the food for metal debris.
@drfaustus71: Hmm… ok, I hadn’t thought about that. You’re right.
@Scoobatz: I share your skepticism about the food poisoning claim, but you are wrong about the length of time. It sounds pedantic, but health education is paramount.
Food poisoning symptoms can manifest in as little as 15 minutes from first consumption. They can also disappear just as rapidly. That usually happens when food is not stored, preserved, or prepared correctly (knife-in-bread almost counts as not prepared correctly). Food-borne illnesses, however, can take much longer as they infect the body… like a couple days or so.
In all cases, if you suspect that you are feeling the effects of food poisoning or that something you ate was contaminated, then call poison control, call your doctor, or just go to the emergency room. Food poisoning can lead to death or long-term damage, even if it seems minor.
I’m sure if he was having “severe stomach issues” from food poisoning, they would have lasted much longer than a few hours without care.
7 inch? last I checked Subway still used those awesome little 3-inch stamped, plastic-handled serrated knives that rip through bread and flesh like nothing.
@SkokieGuy: This is exactly right. Subway gets its frozen, raw bread from another large manufacturer, and a piece of metal this large would definitely have triggered the metal detector. This assumes that a knife even managed to find its way into the product zone of a production line.
Additionally, I’d think that a metal knife would have a pretty small chance of carrying enough pathogens to give someone food poisoning. There’s a reason that certain types of material are acceptable for food contact and some are not, and it has a lot to do with microbe retention. Plus baking a knife in a hot oven for 20 minutes would do a lot to kill anything on it. Maybe he got nauseated by the idea of nearly cutting his mouth open or he’s trying to garner sympathy – but I’d bet money that he doesn’t have food poisoning.
Does subway make the dough on site, or is the bread baked from frozen premade dough logs from a factory?
It’s one of those new $5 subs dude! But seriously, why would anyone wanna live in the scum filled NYC anyways?
that’s their new kid’s menu promo!
@SkokieGuy, Dervish: My guess? The dough isn’t delivered in the baking pans. The knife somehow found its way into the bottom of the baking pan at the Subway before the dough went in to defrost/rise.
@MercuryPDX: Assuming it really was in the bread and not planted by the customer, this is probably the answer. The dough would thaw, proof, and then bake around it. Even if this were the case, though, the amount of attention not being paid to the bread (by the customer OR the worker) had to be huge. You’d still be able to clearly see the knife pressed into the bottom of the loaf.
Since it would be a good idea to through away the sandwich, I still would be pissed at paying 5 bucks for a crappy knife.
Uhh don’t people watch the sandwich maker when they are making the food? :Hey, uh you forgot your knife in my sandwich”
You mayo haters have serious issues.
Okay, how on earth did the guy not notice a knife in the sub? They make it right in front of you!
Now we know how Jared lost all that weight! Mr. Stabby gives you free bariatric surgery!
@Dyscord: No kidding. Even if the knife were baked into the bread, one would think the Subway dude would have noticed it.
As an ex franchisee, I figure I may as well give some facts.
Our bread comes in frozen sticks. They are thawed for 12-24 hours before being baked. At the point of proofing, they are not large enough for one of those knives to be “inside” the bread. Could it have fallen along side the bread stick before proofing and baking, absolutley! But it would have been impossible for this knife to have been noticed if that was the case – either when the hinge cut was made or when the foot long sandwich was cut into two 6 inch portions.
If the knife was really baked for 12 minutes at 350 degrees, I think the plastic handle would have been melted much more than in the picture that I am seeing on many websites. Ive had an employee accidenlty toast a knife. When that handle starts to melt at all – the smell is HORRIBLE! Same thing would have happened if they baked the knife. The handle would have turned to a l
Secondly, like somone said, a 7 inch knife does not fit into a 6 inch half of a sandwich. And if he took a few bites and realized something didnt taste right he would have bitten into the knife. All footlong sandwiches are halved, unless it is requested that they are not
Some production problems with that sandwich also
1) Dont appear to be any bread scores on the roll. Subway scores the roll four times. We do this using a scoring knife and not a regular bread knife
2) Subway has been removing the square sheet of Deli Paper from its sandwiches for quite some time now
3) What is up with the oddly halved piece of tomato. There should be 6 tomatoes on that full sandwich – but only see a half – that appears to be perfectly cut with a knife.
Something is not right here.
And for those of you who hate mayo, there should be more than one knife in the wrapping area. A knife is not supposed to be used to hold toppings in a sandwich before cutting it. They need to properly train their staff.
Did my reply get erased?
I imagine that prisoner who ordered the “jailhouse special” is a little pissed at not getting his order right, either.
As an aside, I suspect the “food poisoning” was mostly psychological as he started thinking about how the knife might have gotten into his sandwich.
Finally. Something between the 2 pieces of bread on a Subway sandwich!
@todd73nj: Glad to see a fellow (or exfellow
) Subway backup here.
Like you said, our breadsticks come frozen, and are 8-9 inches long and 1 inch wide when we first put them on the bread forms. There is NOWHERE that a 7 inch knife blade can be hidden in there! Even if they tried to insert it after it’s proofed for an hour, the loaf of bread would deflate.
Also, they lifted the deli paper rule in our area (Denver Market) which is kind of nice, however everyone at our store is so accustomed to it that its second nature to use now, we only use the deli paper for those gigantic sandwiches in which there is no hope of closing without messiness.
We also have multiple knives available, one is strictly for those clean freaks, after use its washed off and stored in a knife block.