Posted on 04/08/2006 7:29:41 AM PDT by Cvengr
What's the largest fast junk food chain in the country?
Wrong.
It's not McDonald's.
It's Subway.
Subway overtook McDonald's last year in the United States and now has 15,874 locations in the U.S. compared to 11,533 for McDonald's.
Worldwide, Subway has 21,528 restaurants in 75 countries.
McDonald's has more than 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries.
Subway founder Fred DeLuca says he wants 30,000 outlets worldwide by 2010.
Of course, Subway would not want you to think that it is not a fast junk food chain.
In fact, the privately held firm has overtaken McDonald's by riding a wave of publicity featuring Jared Fogle, who says he lost 245 pounds on the following diet coffee for breakfast, Subway sandwich for lunch, and Subway sandwich for dinner.
Soon, the word was out you could lose weight eating Subway sandwiches.
And tomorrow, on the National Mall, Subway founder and CEO DeLuca will join with Fogle, the American Heart Association, members of Congress (including the corporate liberal Rose DeLauro, D-Connecticut, whose district contains Subway's corporate headquarters), and various "nutritional experts" to "galvanize support for fighting childhood obesity."
We went and visited our local Subway and found that in fact, there was health and diet information displayed, including a nutritional and dietary guide with the American Heart Association's stamp of approval.
But as at most fast junk food outlets, Coke machines, the rows of bags of chips, and the rubbery chicken and unappetizing beef were screaming unhealthy, stay away.
You could order a salad, or a vegetarian sandwich. The chain markets seven subs with six grams of fat or less.
But for the most part, the staple of this franchise is processed meats and cheeses, soft drinks and chips.
Subway sandwiches include such classics as Steak and Cheese, Subway Melt (a first class blend of turkey breast, ham, crispy bacon, and melted cheese) Italian BMT (pepperoni, genoa salami, and ham) and the Cold Cut Trio (turkey based ham, salami, and bologna) not your typical heart healthy sandwiches.
Should members of Congress and the American Heart Association be promoting this multinational junk food company?
Of course they shouldn't.
The American Heart Association has sullied its reputation by getting in bed with whatever corporation comes around with its checkbook open.
According to a report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the American Heart Association has taken big corporate cash from a long list of drug companies, junk food companies, and even from the National Livestock and Meat Board, which gave $189,000 to sponsor a HeartRide cycling series "to help ensure that people don't think that AHA recommends abstaining from meat."
In return for endorsing only Bayer aspirin, AHA gets $500,000 a year from Bayer. Nice deal, if you can cut it.
And how much money has Subway kicked in?
According to the AHA, Subway has given $4 million to the American Heart Association (AHA) since 2002, and will gave an additional $6 million through 2007. That's a total of $10 million.
In exchange, Subway gets to put the AHA "fighting heart disease and stroke" logo on its materials throughout its chain of stores, according to an AHA spokesperson.
In a written statement, the AHA said it will only accept sponsorships from "those restaurants that have a public/market positioning associated with healthy foods or have heart-healthy and non-fried food alternatives on the menu."
"Subway actively promotes low-saturated fat meal options and exercise in their advertising messages," the AHA said in the statement. "Their messaging reinforces that a well-balanced diet and exercise are important tools in maintaining a healthy weight."
We agree with Commercial Alert's Gary Ruskin that it's "not the proper role of the federal government or public health groups to hawk Subway or any other form of fast or junk food."
"This is part of the broader story of the corruption of the American public health movement," Ruskin said. "AHA ought to drop its support for Subway. They have been converted into an auxiliary marketeer for Subway. They are apparently for sale."
"The fast food companies are running in a panic over the obesity epidemic," Ruskin said. "They are striving to do something to make it seem that they are not responsible for it or part of it. This is just one more way that companies like Subway try to hide their tracks and boost their public relation images."
The government and independent public health organizations should be helping the American people fight off the hyperbreeding of fast food outlets cannibalizing the country not promoting it.
In addition to promoting his beloved Subway and making millions a year doing so, DeLuca wants to bring an Indian gambling casino to Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Call it the junk food/junk economy connection.
According to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, DeLuca invested $10 million in the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation's successful effort to gain federal recognition so they could build a casino in Connecticut. Blumenthal is challenging that recognition.
And the House Government Reform Committee is in the middle of an investigation of how the Schaghticoke Tribe and the Eastern Pequots gained such recognition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Earlier this year, the Hartford Courant reported that a rival band of Indians charged that the federal recognition of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation "was hijacked by outside investors and high-priced lobbyists intent on winning a lucrative gambling franchise for their own benefit."
Whether or not the investors and lobbyists hijacked the process we'll leave to federal investigators.
But what is clear is that Subway and DeLuca have hijacked the American Heart Association, Congresswoman DeLauro, and various federal agencies to promote their own brand of fast junk food.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter, http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor, http://www.multinationalmonitor.org. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press; http://www.corporatepredators.org).
(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
This article is posted at: http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2004/000181.html
That's a telling line. I think you can see the writer's real problem with Subway.
Big Y-U-K to that bill o' fare, too, B.
That's just what I gathered, but you said it much better that I.
Many Subways in the rural mountainous south are owned and operated by Middle Easterners, mostly Iranians.
Never ceases to amaze me how people think that eating at this magical places will lose the weight off of them if they dont exercise. Take martial arts class 3 times a week (mon, wed fri), and I can eat whatever I want! Burger King, McD, doesnt matter. Great shape and a nice figure (not to mention being able to skydive, waterski, and mtn climb) begins with exercise.
Bwahahaha! There's Cvengr's "Emily Litella" moment.
These people are professional scolds who are impossible to please. I don't know why any sensible person would pay them a lick of attention.
They won't be happy until every American lives in a high-rise tenement, dresses in an identical Mao suit, and picks up their ration of tofu-broccoli mush (adjusted for age, sex and height) on the way to their toil in the Workers' Patriotic Collective Factory. It will be illegal to eat anything not prescribed to you by a government dietitian.
-ccm
Yup. The Queen of the Night and I travel a lot. Subways offer dependably delicious sandwiches. Even got them in Budapest. (The local sandwich shops might be better -- but they might be worse -- much worse!) You want more meat, order more. You want different bread, order it. Want it toasted, order it. Yum!
By the way,,,,there is nothing like a good Philly cheese steak....
You are so right! Ironically, you can order "Philly Cheese Steaks" in many other parts of the country, but they ALWAYS make them wrong. I consider them a slander on Philadelphia in much the same way the "Danish" you get in America is a slander on Denmark.
We have a new Walmart in suburban Philly with a Subway franchise. We enjoy the turkey subs--our only fast food--but only occasionally; we prefer home cooking. However, my husband found the sub at Walmart to be rather meager, compared to other franchises, and won't go back.
Actually we shopped rarely at Walmart until all the slamming started, now we check there first for miscellaneous items. We were amazed at the great selection it offers to many people with lower incomes who otherwise couldn't afford to buy some of the nicer things. I was particularly impressed at the colorful design of towels at very low prices. And its a spotless, spacious, incredibly well-stocked place to shop. Considering the vastness of this one, people are going to need a food/drink break!
I have to ask. What is a "Emily Litella"?
But that's the reason why Subway is making money. They don't have to spend money on brick-and-mortar stores.
I actually ate at Subway for lunch today after a long absence- since they have started toasting subs, now you smell like a toasted after you leave. It's gross and I will not be going back.
"Never mind."
So instead of getting over fear of homos, I have to get over love of hemos? It gets a little confusing sometimes.
Here's one example----
Chevy Chase: Weekend Update recognizes its obligation to present responsible opposing viewpoints to our editorials. Here to reply to a recent editorial, is Emily Litella.
Emily Litella: I'm here tonight to speak out against busting schoolchildren. Busting schoolchildren is a terrible, terrible thing. I hear this is going on all over the country. Mean policemen arrest little children and put them in jail in the wrong neighborhood, so they can't even play with their little friends. Imagine, busting schoolchildren! The food in jail isn't good, and even though they get bread, I don't believe they can get toast. Or nice cake. Now, who will tuck them in? Where will they hang their leggings? Where will they set up their little lemonade stands? Well, they don't have toys in jail, except maybe..
Chevy Chase: [ interrupting ] Miss Litella?
Emily Litella: Yes?
Chevy Chase: I'm sorry. The editorial was on bussing schoolchildren. Bussing. Not busting.
Emily Litella: Oh. I'm sorry. Never mind.
Thanks!
Subway was a part of the diet that I went on and lost 100 pounds. Most of it was just not eating much, though. The good thing about Subway is you know how many calories you are taking in and the portions are controlled. Subway, lean cuisine, and hunger are all important factors in losing weight. The people running that company are very smart for picking up on the Jared thing, because without that, all you have is a company selling substandard sandwiches.
Dude, it's from "organic consumers.org", the type of site that won't be happy until we all eat tofu paste from a cardboard tube and wear uniform brown and goose crap green hemp clothing...
The american public health association is one of the foremost liberal support groups in the United States. The work they do with grants keeps the liberal activists funded in your area as well as the rest of the country.
I had heard that Arby's, and Quiznos, contributed to the Dems, but Subway too??? *sigh*
Guess I'll just make my subs at home! lol.
Have you tried their new prime rib sub yet? Every time that commercial comes on it makes me hungry even if I've just finished eating. I've never eaten at Quizno's since we don't have one in our town. There's one in the next town over, we just haven't made it there yet.
If I never see another Subway again it wouldn't bother me at all. When I worked in downtown Dallas there were 2 Subway shops in the tunnel. It was easy and fast to get one of their sandwiches to go where you could be in your proper place...at your desk. I've never really liked spending money on cold sandwiches when I go out to eat since I can do that at home. When I go out to eat I want to eat something I'd have a hard time duplicating at home.
I've probably eaten at Subway a total of 7-8 times and of those times, I've gotten sick twice. I have absolutely no desire to take a chance again plus I just don't think they taste all that great.
When I was growing up in Houston we used to eat subs from Antone's. Now they made a great sub! I haven't had one in years and don't know if they're still in business or not. When Antone's first opened they were the only shop around that sold imported meats, cheeses, spices, olive oil and baklava. Antone's was also the first place I ever ate a dill pickle I liked.(probably because their pickles had garlic as well as other spices)
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