Subway - the KNIFE and other disgusting practices

IronDame

At the subway I go to, they wipe the knife on their apron....much cleaner

Oh the apron...where they probably sneeze, cough or pick their nose and probably wipe their hands. :laugh:

ggof

subway shut down years ago in switzerland but i am sure pre-prepared sandwiches in the supermarket aren't much better .. i make my own now that way i know what's in it and it's cheaper ..

Livingdeadgirl44

I hate places where people where those plastic gloves. It's so unhygienic because when you have gloves on you can't tell if your hands have sauce or anything on them. You could get them to change the gloves every time but that is a complete waste when all they need to do is wash their hands after each job. I think fast food do it because is 'looks' hygienic, it's not as if chefs in fancy restarunts who fiddle about with your food piling it up into towers on the plate wear them.

CyberEd312

Generally speaking, if you're overly concerned about sanitation I wouldn't suggest fast food.

This!!

I work deliveries (Ran Beer truck for Budweiser for 12 years through the 90's) and let me tell you that you do not want to know some of the practices and things I seen going on in the back kitchen areas of many of these places. You would never go eat fast food or eat out ever again. I myself pick and choose my places mainly on past experiences. My 2 Subways that I use here in my town never use the same pair of gloves after making a previous sandwich. They have a bread cutting knife use soley for that and a knife to cut the sandwiches at the end of the line which they wipe down after each sandwich is made... yes they wipe the leftovers into the bend but that is before they start with the next customers sandwich and they wash their hands before they put on the new gloves. The worst I ever seen was at a Mexican Place where they make their own chips fresh daily and put them in 32 gallon trash cans in the backroom. I was dropping a cart of beer off in the same room and literally seen a rat come pushing his way out of the half secured lid and landed on the floor and scurried out the back door (which they left open and blocked for ventilation in the summer months.) So yeah I have seen much worse, even much worse than that.......

victorious27

Yeah... Subway is still my favorite "fast food" place. I always go there when I'm running low on ideas, because it always fits in my calories and in reality, isn't too horribly bad for you (compared to most other options). It doesn't bother me that they do that stuff -- you should really hear what they do in actual restaurants/fast food restaurants. You'd really be horrified then, lol.

It really isn't that bad, regardless of how you talk about it...because they only other things touching that counter are other sandwiches and those other sauces aren't exactly detectable when they actually use the same knife.

I love me some subway

fbmandy55

I work at subway, and though some of my other employees do this. I completely understand being a fitness enthusiast and just a clean person in general. I go through about 100 knives or more through out the day and always change my gloves and wash my hands after each customer no matter how long it takes. Some customers in the line find it annoying though. that being said I will encourage other employees to do the same more often:).

I worked in a Subway in high school and some people were just ridiculous. We were off the Interstate and always busy. Once, during a peak lunch hour, I had a guy come up to me and request that I wash my hands and change my gloves before starting. I had just started and was clean, but went with it. After placing meat on his bread, he request that I wash my hands again and put on new gloves before his veggies went on... WTF, OK.So he proceeds to pick out the veggies he wants, 3 slices of tomatoes, specifically requesting certain ones from the tray. Then I rang him up and he had me wash my hands a THIRD time before handing him his bag, after handling the money. Dude, you just touched the money yourself....

As far as the knife, all of us wiped them off at the least if they had sauce of any kind on them. It takes a shred of common sense to not get mayo or mustard on a person's sandwich if they didn't request it. There was a knife on the bread side that stayed there, and one on the veggie end that was always wiped.

If you are that obsessive over your food, why go to a fast food restaurant where at any given time and given person could be doing far worse with your food.

Koldnomore

oh, in the uk, they have squeezy sauce bottles, the knife only gets used to cut the breads.....

I was gonna say, they don't use the knife here, just to cut the bread...

They do the same in Canada.

Truly if someone ever wiped a knife on the bin they would be re-making my sandwich after I talk to the manager. That is disgusting. Also, I don't think you would be crossing any line by asking that they change gloves or wipe the knife off before starting your food.

ahamm002

Generally speaking, if you're overly concerned about sanitation I wouldn't suggest fast food.

Unfortunately, as Sara_wins mentioned, it's not just fast food. There are a lot worse things than the subway knife at most normal restaurants where the food is all made in the back. The problem at subway is that you can see it. Whereas, at most restaurants it's out of sight, out of mind.

fbmandy55

Oh, and the crab meat... It comes in an air tight, shrink wrapped plastic bag. I saw an employee drop a sealed bag of that once and swear it bounced at least 3 feet off the floor. I'm pretty sure rubber and gelatin are the main ingredients there..

As far as the veggies go. They do come whole and are sliced daily.

Jorra

I believe in a strong immune system.

parys1

What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger

ETA: Pretty much what Jorra said..

clarkeje1

Honestly, Subway disgusts me in general.

All that pre-sliced meat thats been sitting around in the open for hours... no thank you.

Give me Jersey Mikes any day... where they slice it fresh, and it tastes a thousand times better.

This!

downsizinghoss

I have seen worse in my own kitchen lol

VanessaHeartsMasr

I'm lucky then. The Subway I usually go to has 2 containers of knives at the end of the line. One filled with a whole bunch of clean knives, and one filled with dirty knives. They cut your sandwich with a clean knife and then throw it in the dirty bin.

OkieinMinny

Generally speaking, if you're overly concerned about sanitation I wouldn't suggest fast food.

I was just thinking this. If a knife and glove at Subway is upsetting, you probably shouldn't go out to eat anywhere, ever. I've worked at enough restaurants, fast food and otherwise, to know this is the VERY LEAST you have to worry about.

^^^ Why I make sure NOT to piss off any servers - I KNOW what they are capable of....:noway:

trophywife24

Generally speaking, if you're overly concerned about sanitation I wouldn't suggest fast food.

Yeah that's pretty much the bottom line, right there. Grossness goes on everywhere, you just see it at Subway.

Keltinator

I've never seen that before (maybe they don't do it the same in Canada?). They have squeeze bottles for the sauces and the knife is only used to cut the bread.

But then again I only get 6 inch ones so they don't even need to cut mine

My friend did get food poisoning from Subway once. He can't stand the smell of it now.

k2charmed4u

A subway local to were I work did this as well as handling change (which is full of bacteria! :sick: ) and taking other things from the shelves like crisps and cookies without changing gloves or using alcohol gel. They even served me OUT OF DATE CRISPS! :noway:

So I emailed their head office and they sent the details to the manager of the store who personally contacted me apologising offering a free subway meal and that he will speak to the staff.

Since then they change gloves, wipe knives between sandwiches with alcohol wipes etc. They have one person on sandwiches only and one on the till only who also gets you drinks and crisps etc. They've been doing it properly now for 3 months :happy:

doggiesnot

At the end of the line - when they have all the glop on your sandwich (note here - I despise mayonnaise and most dressings) they need to fold the sandwich up so they reach for - the KNIFE. The knife that is dripping with mayo and other dressings from the last 50 sandwiches they've made that day. They lay it on your sandwich to hold the toppings in place, fold over the top, and extract the knife such that those remnants get scraped onto your pristine, veggie patty, pepperjack on wheat sub with everything but cucumbers and carrots and a touch of red salsa sub.

The other thing that disgusts me - the server standing there, waiting for the next sandwich on the assembly line. They are wearing those plastic gloves - for our protection I presume - and they proceed to wipe the counter and push leftover stuff into the trash hole using just the glove, then turn to you and ask what you'd like on your sandwich.

I'm sure much worse happens behind the scenes at a McDonalds, Hardees, etc. but it's 1) not where you can see it, and 2) I don't eat at those meat-factories.

Ha! Great first post and welcome to MFP!

That does sound disgusting and now I'm going to be watching for it! :noway:

MsNewBooty83

ya, that whole sliding the used knife between the two slats in the cutting counter is sick too, i can only imagine whats in there! now that im actually thinking about this....*barf*

that being said...i sometime whipe off the knives i use at home and throw em back in the block, lol

soooo....after reading some of the other posts, yah, i guess fast food or restaraunt food is eat at ur own risk...but generally i think most places r ok. what doesnt kill ya makes ya stonger! lol