Subway
Question
dear Rabbi, This week i was working at a remote location in queens and I forgot to take my lunch with me so I decided to go have a tuna sandwich at the Subway store that I saw on the way. this is the first time that ever walked into a subway and I thought that since you okayed it then its fine. as i was standing in line I was observing how they were handling the food. there were two people one that was cutting the breads and putting the meat and another one who was putting on the toppings, tuna and wrapping it up. I know that you said that they should change the gloves which would be ok for the first guy there. but even if the second guy changes his gloves. everytime he has been making treif sandwiches that day he actually touches the meat with his gloves as he is pressing the toppings on and then reaches into another bin of toppings and the particles of treif meat that were on his gloved fingers have now gone into another tray of toppings and so on... I left the restaurant at that moment because I thought it was futile to ask them to change their gloves because all day long they've been sticking their hands with treif meat on it into the olives pickles and veggies that you said were ok. my question is have you observed it when you were at subway (i assume that since you are telling us that its ok that you have eaten there as well yourself). and if so is this then not a problem? thank you for your time miriam
Answer
Answered by Aaron AbadiIf you are in a place that is dirty like the way you describe, keep away. The same goes for Kosher places. Do you want to taste herring on your egg salad sandwich?! You could have probably asked them to change the gloves, which they usually do automatically, and you can follow them through the process, making sure they give you clean veggies. I still think that you made the right choice to leave. If you are made uncomfortable, go with your intuition. Most Subways are extremely clean where they serve you. You certainly don't want pieces of ham in your Tuna sandwich. Try another location or maybe try Au Bon Pain. Their tuna is great on a bagel and they're usually even cleaner than Subway. Get tuna with tomato and alfalfa sprouts. It's delicious. AA