Subway denies that its China outlets use harmful shoe chemical

Care for a meatball marinara on Reebok? After Subway removed azodicarbonamide, a potentially harmful chemical used in shoe production, from its US bread recipe, people understandably feared it might still be used in Chinese and Hong Kong stores. However, Subway vehemently denies this allegation. Said a spokesperson:
“Azodicarbonamide is not present in any bread sold in China Subway restaurants. However, while it is fully approved by relevant government authorities in the USA, this particular ingredient is already in the process of being removed from US bread.” (Forget “eat fresh,” this should be the new motto.)
The spokesperson also pointed out that the bread at Subway’s Hong Kong and Macau stores hails from New Zealand, where the chemical is not used in making dough.
Don’t exhale just yet, however, for azodicarbonamide is reportedly present in the bread at most US fast food chains (and therefore probably at China outlets too), and Starbucks even told Chinese media that some of its breads and cakes contain the chemical because its use is still legal here.
Still, we at Shanghaiist consider it a banner week when a food scandal entails something as tame as a potentially harmful but legal additive, as opposed to, well…..these.

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