Subway contends its commissioned lab tests show only 'trace' of soy in its chicken

NEW YORK (AP) -- Subway says lab tests it commissioned show its chicken had only trace amounts of soy.


That comes after a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. show reported that tests showed only about half the DNA from Subway chicken samples was from chicken. The rest was mostly from soy.

After calling the report "false and misleading," Subway followed up by saying it sent chicken to two labs and the results from both found soy protein to be less than 1 percent of the samples.

It said it performed different types of tests than the one done by the CBC. Subway says one test for the presence or absence of a species showed that the protein was chicken, and a second determined the amount of soy content.

The CBC stood by its report, saying it tested multiple Subway chicken samples from various locations in southern Ontario. It said the tests were done by independent and credible experts, and that "Subway has yet to provide any explanation for the DNA test results obtained by CBC."

The CBC said that DNA tests don't reveal the exact amount of chicken in a product, but are a good indicator of its proportion of animal DNA. It also noted that it had reached out to Subway in early February, but that the company "chose not to provide answers beyond saying that the results were 'false'."

Subway says soy is an ingredient it uses in the marinade and seasoning for its chicken.