Food safety and food quality are our top priorities. Our goal is to serve food that consistently meets the highest quality and safety standards – from the time it is grown, harvested or caught to when it is put into a sandwich or salad in our restaurants.
Our high standards for food safety ensure that our guests are getting the quality the SUBWAY® brand expects from us. It begins with setting detailed product specifications followed by inspection of samples pulled from distribution to ensure that specifications are being met. All approved facilities that supply food to SUBWAY® restaurants, undergo a rigorous third-party audit for food safety, HAACP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) and GMPs (Good Manufacturing Practices). In addition, our auditing process ensures that good agricultural and harvesting practices (GAP’s and GHP’s) are used by the ranches and farms that supply produce to us. The auditing bodies vary by country. For instance, in the United States we use the USDA to audit to this standard.
The SUBWAY® brand’s Office of Food Safety and Quality Enhancement team reviews all our food safety and quality programs and recommends improvements as needed. This team works together with our vendors to achieve our food safety and quality improvement goals. For instance, they identified high pressure pasteurization (HPP) as a way to improve freshness and food safety while eliminating the dependence on other preservatives.
Food safety is of paramount importance in our restaurants too! Sandwich Artists™ are required to always follow strict hand washing procedures and proper glove usage for all food handling processes. All products are monitored throughout the day to ensure proper holding temperatures (cold food kept cold and hot food kept hot). To further ensure freshness, all prepared food is managed via strict shelf life dating procedures. Our food safety policies are at least as stringent as the guidelines for both the FDA’s Food Code and The National Restaurant Association's Serve Safe® program. Whenever a local code differs from these guidelines, our policy is that the restaurant must always follow the most stringent policy. We provide training for franchisees and their staff on the importance of food safety. Every restaurant throughout the world is evaluated for compliance of policies and procedures every month. If our food safety, product temperature and pest control standards and policies are not adhered to at the restaurant level, it is grounds for franchisee termination.