Subway restaurants will completely be out of its “yoga mat” chemical bread by next week.
According to the Associated Press, Tony Pace, Subway's chief marketing officer said that the sub shop had started phasing the ingredient out last year and that the process should be complete within a week.
The ingredient referred to as the “yoga mat” chemical is azodicarbonamide. As a food additive, it is used for a flour bleaching agent. But another use for the chemical is a cleaning agent for yoga mats. The substance can also be found in shoe soles.
In February, CNN noted that Subway announced that azodicarbonamide would be removed from the restaurant’s bread, even though the chemical was deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration.
The chemical is used in many products at several different fast-food chains, including McDonald’s and Starbucks. However, Subway, which markets itself as serving healthy food, was taking the brunt of some bad publicity since the revelations about the chemical surfaced.
The restaurant has already gone entirely Azo-free at many of its locations.