The Hilarious Warning On Subway's Sandwich Wrappers You Probably Missed

Subway sandwiches seem to be everywhere these days. And what's not to like? The fast food chain has replicated the experience of an East Coast submarine sandwich shop, one where you can customize a sandwich with different cold cuts, dressings, and vegetables, and spread that experience across the world. Subway's experimentation with different products, like its protein-forward menu items or its spicy ghost pepper bread, gets fans excited. But people's excitement might go too far, as there is a funny warning if you look closely at the paper that the Sandwich artist uses to wrap your meal in. Amongst the maximalist design, you'll see a message that says "Do Not Eat This Wrapper."

Some on the internet joked that this practice could just be Subway protecting itself from litigation by an overzealous customer who accidentally ate the wrapper, but the real reason is much more serious. Lots of food packaging is covered with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (aka PFAs) like perfluorinated chemicals, or PFCs, a non-stick coating that makes it water, oil, and grease resistant. Exposure to PFCs can lead to dangerous health effects like kidney cancer, pre-eclampsia, and even developmental issues.

Even though Subway announced in 2020 that it would phase out PFAs from its sandwich and cookie bags and instead use recycled materials, there is still a chance that the packaging has residual traces of the chemical. One Redditor joked, "With enough sauce it's indistinguishable from lettuce." Which might be exactly why Anthony Bourdain never put lettuce on his burgers either.

Although PFAs are no laughing matter, Subway always finds a way to tie in some humor into its latest promotions. For example, during the Lyrid meteor shower, the sandwich giant decided to get punny and offer MVP rewards members double the meat on any sandwich. Get it? meteor, meatier. For Valentine's Day, Subway did a play on the "meet cute" trope seen in romantic movies and books. They announced the "Eat Cute" promotion, where all footlong sub sandwiches were buy one get one free.

One of the most bizarre promotions was when Subway gave out portable "Sidekick Safes" to customers. Sidekicks were footlong side orders that would accompany the sandwich, like the Footlong Cookies, Auntie Anne's® Footlong Pretzels, and Cinnabon® Footlong Churros. The Sidekick Safe was a 39-inch-long food storage unit that had three separate insulated compartments to keep your food warm, a keypad lock to keep your food "safe," and a carrying strap so you can take your precious cargo with you on the go.