Subway Settles O.C. Suit by Agreeing to Menu Corrections

The operator of the Subway sandwich chain has agreed to relabel its seafood-crab salads and sandwiches as processed blend products to settle a lawsuit accusing it of failing to reveal other ingredients.

The Orange County district attorney’s office, which filed the lawsuit, said Wednesday that the operator, Franchise World Headquarters Inc. in Milford, Conn., also agreed to pay $50,077 in costs and penalties.

The settlement and the lawsuit were filed simultaneously Tuesday, and the prosecutor’s office was quick to warn other eateries.

“This is the kind of enforcement action that can be taken against any company that violates food laws,” said Wendy Gene Brough, a deputy district attorney in the consumer protection unit.

Subway, which operates 81 outlets in Orange County and more than 9,000 worldwide, said its store menu boards have stated since 1993 that its seafood-crab meals were a processed blend.

“Inadvertently, a few supplemental marketing materials went out that did not have ‘processed blend’ on them,” said Jared Nixon, spokesman for Franchise World. Nixon said all Subway stores now advertise the seafood and crab dishes as a processed blend.

Prosecutors and the Orange County Health Care Agency, which had cited the company, assert that the company and its franchisees didn’t advise consumers that other ingredients were in the product.

“When you see seafood and crab on the menu, you expect to see chunks of seafood and crab in the product,” said Bill Ford, a supervisor in the health care agency. “We want customers to know they’re not getting chunks of crab but a product that is a processed blend.”

The agency figures that the term “processed blend” puts consumers on notice that the meal contains other ingredients and that they can ask the store for details.

While the meals contain some snow crab, Ford said, much of the crab meat consists of a substitute--Alaskan pollock, various starches, sugar, water and artificial flavor and coloring.

Nixon pointed out that Subway uses real crab meat, but he didn’t know if it also used imitation crab.

Under the court-approved consent agreement, Franchise World will make “every reasonable effort” to prod its Subway franchisees to comply with state laws regulating the sale and advertising of food. The company also agreed to pay $29,274 in penalties and $20,803 in costs.