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DNA tests show Subway sandwiches could contain just 50% chicken

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Re: DNA tests show Subway sandwiches could contain just 50% chicken

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a good independent sandwich shop, you'll get a much better sandwich, with higher quality bread, and meat, but the meat is still going to be processed. Salami, ham, prosciutto, bacon, mortadella, pastrami, sausage, are all processed meats by definition. Most chicken and turkey will be processed/cured/flavored as well. You might occasionally find a sandwich shop that has a whole roast turkey or pig they'll slice, bu…

When I say 'processed', I mean meat like ham or beef - stuff that I would expect to be real meat, but instead it's sliced from what I guess you could call a mold of reformed scraps. I have no real problem with it but it struck me as unusual given how much sandwich shops charge for their food.

Processing meat means curing, salting, smoking, etc. Everything except molding from scraps. A lot of processed meat is also molded from scraps, but that's not what makes it processed.

Molding reformed scraps sounds gross, and Subway chicken is gross, but molding reformed scraps is also what makes a beautiful salami or sausage. Anyway, I guess I'm trying to separate the category of food (processed), which can have merit, from Subway's abuse of it.

Re: DNA tests show Subway sandwiches could contain just 50% chicken

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most food labeling in the US is done this way. Gross measures (total volume, weight, etc) are in imperial while the nutrition facts are in metric. So milk will say, serving size 12 Oz, protein XX g. Both net contents and serving size include metric measures. "Food labels printed must show the net contents in both metric (grams, kilograms, milliliters, liters) and U.S. Customary System (ounces, pounds, fluid ounces)…

Except the metric serving sizes are very inconvenient unless you like to do long division in your head. For example, I have two yogurts, one has 18g carbs per 170g serving, the other has 34 g per 227g serving. Quick, how much more carbs would I have if I ate the same amount? It's a lot easier to tell if you know one is 6oz and the other is 8oz, or if the servings were designed in metric sizes (e.g. 150g and 200g).

Quick, how much of that tub of yoghurt is a serving? Are you supposed to eat the whole packet of crisps at once or just some of them because it's a "family pack"? The per-serving information is extremely crude and only good for a rough glance. If you want to be more precise, use the per-100g values or whatever they use in the US.

Re: DNA tests show Subway sandwiches could contain just 50% chicken

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'As part of the settlement, Subway agreed to institute practices for at least four years to ensure its bread is at least 12 inches long. The judge approved $520,000 in attorney fees and $500 for each of the 10 individuals who were representatives of the class, but no monetary claims were awarded to potential members of the class. "It was difficult to prove monetary damages, because everybody ate the evidence," said T…

Only the lawyers win.

I think that's fair in a case like this. The lawyers are the ones who got Subway to change their practices. The 10 individuals wouldn't have been anyone who was specially hurt compared to the millions of other customers, just whoever bothered to spend the time signing up.

Re: DNA tests show Subway sandwiches could contain just 50% chicken

#205
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least it isn't sawdust.

Apparently dairy cows are perfectly happy and healthy eating a diet that is mostly sawdust. At least, that's what I learned when I took a course on ruminant nutrition and digestion when I was a graduate student at UC Davis.

Interesting article I just found: http://www.thegazette.com/2013/02/25/northeast-iowa-cattle-h...

Apparently, cattle digest cellulose fine, but the lignin in the wood interferes with their cellulose digestion. Treating the sawdust with nitric acid and heat breaks the cellulose-lignin bond and makes it more digestible. (Due to onerous government regulation of nitric acid, the farmer in question went on to develop an alternative method of sawdust processing which doesn't use it, but the article doesn't provide any details on that.)

Re: DNA tests show Subway sandwiches could contain just 50% chicken

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the metric serving sizes are very inconvenient unless you like to do long division in your head. For example, I have two yogurts, one has 18g carbs per 170g serving, the other has 34 g per 227g serving. Quick, how much more carbs would I have if I ate the same amount? It's a lot easier to tell if you know one is 6oz and the other is 8oz, or if the servings were designed in metric sizes (e.g. 150g and 200g).

At least in the UK and Europe, nutritional information is also always included per 100g - so it's easy to compare

Also in the colonies (Australia and New Zealand)

Re: DNA tests show Subway sandwiches could contain just 50% chicken

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Typically it has a significant amount of sugar (like, considerably more sugar than salt, 1 gram or more per slice). Contrary to graycat's ingredient list, sugar is a key ingredient of nearly every leavened bread recipe. About 40g/loaf is the typical amount (about three tablespoons). I would be very surprised if you could find a bread recipe that doesn't have about that much sugar, unless it is specifically trying t…

Are we discussing added sugar? Traditional English bread doesn't include much sugar, if any. (By "traditional", I mean the bread my mum made by hand at home, or purchased from the local bakery. Most supermarkets don't sell it.) Modern recipes add sugar to increase shelf life. How large is your loaf with 40g of sugar? http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/497085/paul-hollywood-s-... https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2…

I bake bread at home (in Britain, using a standard recipe). I use a single teaspoon of sugar to feed the yeast before mixing it in; so most is consumed by the yeast.

18oz flour, 0.5oz butter, 1 tsp salt, 10fl.oz warm water + yeast

The biggest taste difference is if you forget the salt, and then varying the type of flour e,g. mixing in rye, spelt or other types and changing butter for olive oil, adding seeds etc.

Adding multiple tablespoons of sugar sounds quite disgusting; it has plenty of taste without. A warm freshly-baked loaf is just the best!

Re: DNA tests show Subway sandwiches could contain just 50% chicken

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You win the NASA award for mixing metric and imperial in the most nonsensical way.

Most people in the US measure food in ounces, but carbs are almost always listed in grams. It's common enough that I didn't even think about it when I wrote it.

Yeah it was a bit unfair of me, just highlighting how difficult it is to get a sense of relativity when using different units.

Re: DNA tests show Subway sandwiches could contain just 50% chicken

#210
post #4

> The majority of the remaining DNA? Soy. The headline got me sorta terrified, imagining what sort of repugnant, monstrous creature was being grinded and mixed into my Subway sandwich. Good to know at least it's just soy.

How is it better?

I'd even prefer it was some random (assuming clean) meat tissue than soy.

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