Subway Class Action Says Chicken Packed With Non-Chicken Fillers

In a new Subway class action lawsuit, a Connecticut man claims only half of Subway chicken is actually made of chicken.

Plaintiff Craig Moskowitz says Subway has been deceiving consumers with the “chicken” it uses in its Oven Roasted Chicken sandwich and Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki chicken strips.

Moskowitz claims this Subway chicken is only about half actual chicken meat. The other half is allegedly “commercial preservatives and fillers.”

According to this Subway class action lawsuit, the non-chicken content of Subway chicken was exposed in an investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Results of that investigation purportedly reveal that the chicken in the Subway Oven Roasted Chicken sandwich contains only 53.6 percent chicken DNA. The chicken in the teriyaki strips clocks in at only 42.8 percent chicken DNA. Chicken from other fast food chains yielded much higher numbers, according to the CBC investigation.

The CBC investigators concluded that the non-chicken component of Subway chicken was made of soy, Moskowitz says.

Packing Subway chicken with less expensive non-chicken ingredients allows Subway to sell its chicken products at unusually low prices, Moskowitz claims. Subway heavily emphasizes those low prices in its advertising.

He quotes Subway promotional materials that highlight their sandwiches’ unusually low prices – ads that say the sandwiches are “surprisingly only three bucks” and inviting consumers to “share its low fat full on flavored feast for an insanely satisfying six bucks.”

But despite the low prices, the final products are still not worth what Subway is charging for them, according to Moskowitz. He says he and the proposed Class Members paid more for their Subway chicken products than they would have been willing to pay had they known what those products’ true ingredients are.

Moskowitz says he has purchased Subway Oven Roasted Chicken sandwiches and Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki on several occasions at Subway locations throughout the state of Connecticut. He relied on the company’s allegedly deceptive representations that these products contain genuine chicken.

Never once did Subway disclose to him that these products contain only about 50 percent chicken DNA, he claims.

Moskowitz is suing Doctor’s Associates Inc., the Connecticut-based company that franchises Subway restaurants. He says Subway is the largest chain of submarine sandwich shops in the world, with over 44,000 locations worldwide.

Moskowitz proposes to represent a plaintiff Class that would cover all persons in the U.S. who purchased Subway’s Oven Roasted Chicken Sandwich and Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki. He also proposes a subclass to represent Class Members who reside in his home state of Connecticut.

He is asking the court for an award of compensatory, statutory and punitive damages; restitution and all other forms of equitable monetary relief; injunctive relief as the court sees proper; and reimbursement of court costs and attorney’s fees.

The plaintiff is represented by attorney Sergei Lemberg of Lemberg Law LLC.

The Subway Chicken Sandwich Class Action Lawsuit is Craig Moskowitz v. Doctor’s Associates Inc., Case No. 3:17-cv-00387, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.