An article regarding alleged underpayment of workers at a Subway franchise and disgusting practices with ingredients.
It also appears that Fair Work Australia is just as useless as the ACCC.
I see that Subway has changed their motto from “Subway - Eat Fresh” to “Subway - My Kind Of Fresh”.
It might be the advertising agency’s kind of fresh but it certainly isn’t mine.
This is almost funny since Subway is a so-called leader in (comparatively) healthier take away.
Irish bread, less than 2gm (2%) of sugar for every 100gm of flour ingredients. Diet loaf?
SubWay neatly sidestepped the obvious question of how much sugar is their Australian sourced bread.
While not recent this appears to be a useful overview of what to expect in commercial Aussie product.
P.S.
Probably a good idea for the food challenges or …?
Do we need sugar to make bread? Is it just a shortcut to proving the dough? Or is it also there to trap our sweet tooth tendencies? @phb etc
Yes and no.
If using yeast to make a light fluffish bread, then yes as the very small amount of added sugar assists in faster carbon dioxide formation. If the yeast fully does it’s job, the sugar should be fully consumed by the yeast reducing its level to almost zero added sugar in the baked bread. If too much sugar’is added, there will still be sugar in the baked bread. The real question is how much was added to the bread mix
While yeast can use flour sugars/carbohydrates to grow and produce gas (e.g. such as in true sour dough type breads or bread ‘plants’), sugar is added to speed up the proofing process.
If using raising agents for the light fluffish bread, then possibly no.
Subway bake their own bread in their stores.
Do they mix and make the dough in their stores?
Or is fresh baked similar to the Coles practice of selling fresh baked product made in the EU etc?
I keep being reminded ‘fresh’ as an adjective has been redefined by the food trade to ascribe a likeness to a product. It’s not unique, From Edward Hopper to Jackson Pollock there are many insights on how to trick the mind. And lighten the wallet some might say especially of the latter. Both are American analogies whose rise to note parallel the rise of fast food in the modern USA. Neither are without their critics.
I haven’t been in a Subway store for more than a decade, but when I did, they had pre-formed doughs which were placed into their proofing oven/oven. It appeared that these were made off site…possibly for quality control and consistency…and that store staff are not bakers but kitchenhands/food servers.
No, the dough comes in small loaves, I don’t know if it is chilled or frozen. So the dough is mixed at the factory.
One thing about Subway that always intrigues me is their insistence in tagging all their radio and TV ads with “Subway is a registered trademark of Doctors Inc” although I see that their Australian website now shows “Subway® is a Registered Trademark of Subway IP LLC.”
Are they that worried that someone will steal their name that they waste a portion of every 30 second radio and TV ad?
I noticed that Irish court decision but it seemed to be more about tax implications over what category the bread was. Like some of our GST food categories here in OZ about what food is taxable and what is not.
The one that @PhilT was referring to is this one.
Coles now has their Coles Finest By Laurent prepared by Laurent in Australia.
My take is the court needed to determine whether the SubWay bread product in Ireland was bread (not subject to VAT). It failed the legal test because it was too high in sugar in the base dough mix. This led it to be reclassified with higher sugar bakery products, all subject to VAT. Perhaps not so healthy an option.
It’s a little ironic that for a business that promotes healthy eating Subway’s Irish bread products fail one very basic test.
In response to one very obvious question the news item also reported:
A spokesperson for Subway in Australia said the bread sold here has met nutritional guidelines and is classed as low-sugar.
“Bread served in Australian restaurants has been formulated especially for our Australian guests and the dough is prepared by Australian suppliers.“
Where does that leave the discussion?
Free to question whether the product is really as fresh as we expect, and wonder if the product is as healthy as the marketing claims?
@Fred123 has pointed out where ACCC has prior experience in assessing claims bread products are fresh baked.
My observation of the open air SubWay outside our Woolies we use when in Brisbane is that the product is supplied par baked.
Don’t know how I got that mixed up.
I guess the metion of Irish in regard to bread automatically reminded me of the Coles shonky.
Well I don’t give a rat’s behind. If it is sour dough, or big company sliced bread, or fruit loaf, or rolls and buns, or brioche, it’s all BREAD to me. The better tasting the better.
If you really want to experience something that I would doubt is actually bread, then take a trip to an American supermarket.
Are you saying that American bread is good or bad?
BAD, big time. I could get somewhat used to orange cheese and butter, and yellow chicken, and lolly-water beer, but not their supermarket bread.
The only bread we ate the first time we went to the US was the complimentary bread served when we placed our order at Cafe Fiorello in Manhattan.
It was the best bread we have ever eaten, and it was so moreish, it was hard not to eat the whole basketfull and then not have room for the best Italian food we have ever atsted.
This is possibly a normal amount added to bread to assist with activating the yeast and accelerating the production of carbon doxide which raises the bread making it light and fluffy.
Subway bread in Ireland runs at 10% sugar for the dry ingredients…which is very similar to dough used for things like sticky buns and cream buns. Not quite bread but a sweet bun.
In Australia, they only report [grams of sugar per bun](file:///F:/Documents/Downloads/AUS%20Nutritional%20Summary.pdf), not dry weight percentages.
I am surprised as this makes Subway not as healthy/nutritious as the marketing team would let one believe.
That’s what we all need to hear. 
The choice thereafter is up to the consumer. To sub or not to sub. Every footy coaches dilemma.
So am I, but when you look at their menu items and dietary information many of the added sauces and some key ingredients need to be avoided for a healthier choice too. The bread rolls though are an integral part of their core offering.
For the foodies amongst us on sugar added to bread dough
One alternate view possibly backed up by a long tradition of European bread baking. It’s also worth noting real sourdough requires to be left overnight to prove.
