A revised class-action lawsuit against Subway claims the restaurant chain’s tuna sandwiches contain other animal proteins, instead of "100 percent tuna,” as advertised.
Plaintiffs Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin originally filed suit against Subway earlier this year, claiming the restaurant chain’s tuna fish sandwiches and wraps did not contain any actual tuna. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in January 2021, claimed the “tuna in Subway’s sandwiches and wraps is a “mixture of various concoctions that do not constitute tuna, yet have been blended together by [Subway] to imitate the appearance of tuna.”
Before a judge could rule in the case, the plaintiffs submitted an amended complaint in June 2021, focusing on Subway’s tuna sustainability claims. Those claims were dismissed in October 2021. The plaintiffs were not able to state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake and their allegations of fraud were not specific enough “to give defendants notice of the particular misconduct which is alleged to constitute the fraud charged,” U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar wrote in the order dismissing the complaint.
"Averments of fraud must be accompanied by the who, what, when, where, and how of the misconduct charged,” he wrote.
The newly amended complaint Subway has been mixing chicken, pork, beef and other animal proteins into its tuna.
“When a reasonable consumer sees a salad, sandwich, or wrap labeled, marketed, or advertised as being ‘tuna’, he or she reasonably expects that the food product will be comprised only of tuna (as opposed to being comprised of tuna and some other fish species, animal products, and/or miscellaneous or mysterious substances not otherwise expected to be in the product),” the new complaint states.
In response, Subway said the plaintiffs have "filed three meritless complaints, changing their story each time,” per Reuters. The restaurant chain’s "high-quality, wild-caught, 100 percent tuna" is regulated strictly in the United States and around the world, Subway said, adding it is the company’s intention to ask the "reckless and improper" lawsuit be dismissed.
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