 | In an effort to help reduce the risk of foodborne illness, Subway Restaurants has announced the rollout of its Gold Standard Produce Program for fresh lettuce, tomatoes and green peppers. The Subway Research and Development department, in conjunction with the Independent Purchasing Cooperative (IPC), owned by the restaurant's franchisees, has organized a network of processors, packer and repackers who use facilities that can produce or source fresh produce to the chain's written specifications.
In addition, an independent third-party auditor, PrimusLabs.Com, a specialist in the produce industry, will regularly inspect the facilities and their products. By the end of the year, all growers in the network and their operational procedures will be registered with the auditing firm. "This is one of the cutting-edge programs in the QSR industry," according to Rick Buttner, supervisor of quality control for Subway's research & development department. "Never before have we had the ability to audit down to field level and trace product to its source. |
 "By consolidating our purchasing efforts, Subway will become the largest user of mature green tomatoes and the second largest user of iceberg lettuce in foodservice industry. This results in increased quality, consistent supply and a lower cost to the franchisee. In addition, since fresh produce is being implicated more often in cases of foodborne illnesses, this give us the opportunity to further tighten our specs and put strict limitations on where produce used in Subway restaurants can be obtained." Subway has mandated that all its restaurants in the United States and Canada, along with their local food suppliers, comply with this initiative by Feb. 1, 2001.
Fred DeLuca founded Subway Restaurants in 1965 with a $1,000 loan from family friend and co-founder Dr. Peter Buck. Since then, Subway has grown to more than 14,660 restaurants in 75 different countries (as of Dec. 1, 2000). Subway® is a trademark of Doctor's Associates Inc.
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