Subway sandwich ingredients in the US are banned in the UK

I thought this was interesting about so called fresh Subway sandwiches.

The 9 grain wheat bread might look and smell freshly baked but it contains close to 50 ingredients including refined flours, dough conditioners, hidden MSG, refined sugars, etc. Could bread this processed ever be real food? Certainly not, when it includes a chemical ingredient called azodicarbonamide, which is banned as a food additive in the U.K., Europe, and Australia, and if you get caught using it in Singapore you can get up to 15 years in prison and be fined $450,000. Azodicarbonamide is more commonly used in the production of foamed plastics, however, it is allowed in the United States as a food additive, a flour bleaching agent, and a dough conditioner that improves elasticity of bread. The U.K. has recognized this ingredient as a potential cause of asthma if inhaled, and advises against its use in people who have sensitivity to food dye allergies and other common allergies in food, because azodicarbonamide can exacerbate the symptoms. Let’s not forget it only takes 4 or 5 simple ingredients to make REAL whole-wheat bread including flour, yeast, salt, water, and maybe honey.


 From 100 days of real food.

Wow, I didn't know this!   I rarely eat from Subway, but it's good to know that they have to make the food differently over here.  I never understood how the FDA administrators can sleep with a clear conscience. 

This topic comes up from time to time.

There are products that are banned in the US that aren't banned in the UK, including one strongly linked to bladder cancer. 

Interesting. I love American  Subway food- I worked there part-time as a teenager too. I ate English Subway once and it wasn't that good... not very fresh and also bland.

I find this so depressing, even though I'm not a fan of Subway, either in the USA or the UK. It's just come to the point that you can't be sure of anything you put into your mouth unless you grow it yourself, with water pumped from a pure well and no commercial treatments whatsoever.

I so wish I could go back to being a raw vegan. Life was much simpler then. I didn't have to spend half my life reading ingredient lists.

....I so wish I could go back to being a raw vegan....

What's stopping you? 

It doesn't take being a raw vegan to realize that any place like Subway is going to have processed bad-for-you food.

It doesn't take being a raw vegan to realize that any place like Subway is going to have processed bad-for-you food.

This! Which is why I tend to avoid pre-prepared <whatever> about 80-90% of the time. Even the fairly plain boxed sandwiches that a person might get from somewhere like the supermarkets, Pret a Manger, Greggs, etc have more salt, fat & <miscellaneous food additives>...or pigeon particles (heeee!), than I prefer to consume.  

This! Which is why I tend to avoid pre-prepared <whatever> about 80-90% of the time. Even the fairly plain boxed sandwiches that a person might get from somewhere like the supermarkets, Pret a Manger, Greggs, etc have more salt, fat & <miscellaneous food additives>...or pigeon particles (heeee!), than I prefer to consume.  

Ha ha ha!!! 

It doesn't take being a raw vegan to realize that any place like Subway is going to have processed bad-for-you food.

No, it certainly doesn't.  I said I wish I could go back to being one, and then I wouldn't have to bother reading *any* ingredients lists (Subway or otherwise). It's just simpler. That's all I meant.

As to what is stopping me: myself. It's not the easiest lifestyle to maintain.

As to what is stopping me: myself. It's not the easiest lifestyle to maintain.

It is very hard to maintain.  I was vegan for a while, and that was difficult enought, but when I went to Ireland I had to bring dairy back into my diet and it has remained in my diet ever since.

Boxed sandwiches from a shop do me fine in a pinch (i.e., while traveling). They're not great, but I don't mind them. However, I had a Subway sandwich once in the US and it was the most vile thing I've ever eaten. The bread tasted like cake. Nasty horrible cake. Awful. Why does Subway even need to be in the UK?? Come to think of it, why does it need to be in the US, for that matter? Disgusting place.

(Not that I have a strong opinion on it, or anything.    )

Subway is the new McDonalds--it's everywhere.  Eventually, those colossal chains always become victims of their own success.  It's impossible to maintain a high standard of quality when you have a million locations worldwide.  I remember Subway as being a decent sandwich shop in about 1995, but the last time I went there in the early 2000s it was dreadful. 

I completely agree. Subway was not bad in the late 80's but is vile today. Of course it could be me that has changed.

The only time I went was in the '80s and it was horrid then.