Are these people serious?

Throughout the course of this blog, I've talked a great deal about the need for Subway to be safe for those with severe food allergies. I mentioned briefly in my first post that I personally don't have food allergies severe enough to kill me; I'm very lucky that way. But there are people that do, and I sympathize with them. It's hard enough for me to cope with not eating dairy; I can't imagine what it would be like to live in fear every time you eat somewhere. Plus, allergies aside, unclean utensils and gloves are just plain gross.

But as much as I've talked about the need for Subway to be safe, and as much as I've mentioned other internet users with similar opinions, I have yet to talk about those opposed to Subway upping its food safety precautions. The reason why? Until today, I didn't even think that there was opposition. Who would be adverse to clean food?


Apparently, there are people out there on Facebook who are. In December of 2008, a Facebook user named Ben created a discussion thread on the Subway Facebook group called, "Okay, Subway! ENOUGH WITH THE KNIFE!" (http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=11918208594&topic=5951)


He started the thread by discussing pretty much the same things I've been saying throughout this post. There were 128 responses, including the following.

"i disagree. the food they cut through with the knife is going to be clean. and if people have allergies then too bad. the knife isn't going to spontaneously generate food that it's touched in the past. and if there that bad of allergies they shouldn't be in there around the food in the first place. And also using the knife helps things move faster and get ur food quicker and yum"

"i agree with Miranda. I work at a Subway in a relative small town, and there is no way to clean the damn knife in between each sub. You get back behind the counter and try to make 60 subs in decent time , with three people working. I can guarantee you wouldnt be able to do it. If you think the knife is dirty that dirty then you should prolly not eat ne other fast food. If you think the chicken u eat at KFC, MCD's, etc. hasnt been on the ground, touched by nastiness, etc. before the fryer, then you are very naive. Stop being a germaphobe and eat your five dollar sandwich"

"My store reciently broke the record for sales in a week by a store with + $100,000 :). If we had to change our gloves aftersandwich we would throw out roughly 10000 gloves a week thats 520000 gloves a year for just making sandwhichs not including making bread and all the other food. We would easily throw out 1000000 gloves a year and thats just my store, How many subways are there in the world??? MILLIONS!!!! So you are complaining about some gloves???"

"GERMAFOBES"


All I can say is... are these people serious? People with allergies should be careful when eating out, yes. But to ask those who suffer from allergies to refrain from eating at a national food franchise so the employees don't have to spend a few moments washing off a utensil is ridiculous. And while a knife won't "spontaneously generate" the food it has touched, it will have residue from whatever it touched on it. For some people, that's enough to kill them.

And as for the comment about the gloves, I ask: is someone's health-- or even their life-- not worth the cost of another pair of plastic gloves? Is keeping food clean really not worth a few extra cents per sandwich?

As customers, we're paying for food. Shouldn't it at least be clean?

A fresh pair is all it takes.