By MELISSA HART
Truth in the Trenches 

It looks as though the marketing gurus at Subway have decided to use the old bait-and-switch tactic to increase sales. But will it work?

You’ll remember a few weeks ago when Subway restaurant chain spokesman Jared Fogle pled guilty to having paid for sex acts with girls as young as 16 and having received child pornography. The company then severed its ties to him.

This was unfortunate for both Fogle as a person, who desperately needs help, and for Subway, which apparently desperately needs to rebound from their spokesperson scandal. In their desperation it seems they have decided to go the food-fearmongering route when trying to sell more subs.

Their recent statement on their social media pages said: "We’re always working to make our products even better. That’s why we’re transitioning to serve only meats that have never received antibiotics starting in 2016."

Can we take time out for an English lesson? Since when does meat receive antibiotics? Farmers and ranchers administer antibiotics to livestock. It also reveals their complete misunderstanding of how antibiotics are used on farms and ranches.

After this social media splash on the Subway Facebook page, they were met with supportive and not-so-supportive comments. While the comments of those who dared to disagree or offer an educated explanation of the truth were deleted, for most of their fearmongering friends who embrace the please-don’t-inject-the-meat mantra, their social media manager was able to copy and paste the following comment:

"We have been doing a lot of work to improve and enhance our menu. We have removed some ingredients (azodicarbonamide, high fructose corn syrup), added some fortifiers (like more whole grain and vitamin D in our bread) and continue to research and roll out more improvements over time.

"We have verified with all our suppliers that our apple slices, avocado, banana peppers, cucumbers, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, lettuce, mushrooms, pickles, red onions, shredded carrots, spinach and tomatoes, Cheddar, Monterey Cheddar Blend, Parmesan, Pepper jack, Provolone and Swiss cheeses are all non-GMO products. We will continue on our journey to provide our customers with many choices that fit their lifestyles."

Now let’s take time out for a GMO question. Since GMO technology has had limited approval, since when do the misinformed fearmongers have to worry about GMOs in jalapeno peppers? Or lettuce? Or shredded carrots? Just a question I feel confident they wouldn’t be able to answer.

There are just so many angles we can go from here, but I would like to address those food-fearmongers and animal rights activists who are against the use of antibiotics on farms and ranches. If a fat steer is coughing and is laboring to breathe, what are we supposed to do? Load it onto the trailer with the other healthy animals, haul it to the stockyards, put it in pens with the other healthy fat steers, let it hobble and cough its way to the auction ring and let it stand and cough so the buyer for Subway can raise his hand to bid on this calf that has obviously not had any antibiotics to improve its health and quality of life?

Are those the animals you want, Subway? Chipotle? Panera? And then you can put on your Facebook Page: "We only choose animals that have not been given any antibiotics and we can verify this because they have been in the sick pen for two weeks coughing and wheezing."

I’m so glad they got rid of Jared and antibiotics; what a relief as I pass by Subway to patronize Dominos, the farmer-friendly fast food chain.

It’s time for farmers and ranchers to stand up once again and start talking sense into the public. Don’t be afraid to start the conversation, because the conversation needs to end with you educating the consumer.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Melissa Hart may write to her in care of this publication.