Subway will list calories on all U.S. menu boards by April 11, the company said Tuesday.
Milford, Conn.-based Subway, which has nearly 27,000 restaurants in the United States, said the new boards would “make its menu even better and easier for our guests to make informed menu choices.”
“For years it has been a priority for Subway sandwich shops to share full nutrition information with our guests,” Lanette Kovachi, Subway dietitian, said in a statement.
In March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it would postpone for more than a year enforcement of new menu labeling rules after Congress included a delay in a spending bill in December.
Over the past five years, a number of restaurant chains, including Panera Bread and McDonald’s USA, have posted calories with menu items.
Kovachi said: “We want consumers to know the calorie value of our sandwiches and salads, but we also want them to know that many of our menu items contain quality calories and are packed with beneficial nutrients from whole grains, lean meats and the wide range of vegetables we serve."
Subway noted that the brand has long offered nutritional information for its menu items, beginning in 1997, with data on cups, tray liners, sneeze guards and napkins; in 2010, with a online nutritional calculator at its website; and in 2012, with participation in the American Heart Association's Heart-Check Meal Certification Program.
In October, the chain said it would transition by 2025 to the use of only meat raised without antibiotics.
Last month, Subway started serving rotisserie-style chicken raised without antibiotics, and by the end of the year it will begin phasing in turkey raised without antibiotics by 2017, the company said.
In Nation’s Restaurant News 2015 Top 100 census, Subway ranked No. 3 in domestic systemwide sales, behind No. 1 McDonald’s and No. 2 Starbucks. Subway had $12.3 billion in systemwide sales for the fiscal year ended December 2014.
Subway has more than 44,000 franchised restaurants in 111 countries.
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