Credit: Unsplash

Surprisingly, not for the reason you’re thinking.

You could make a lot of easy jokes about how bad fast food is for you. Y’know, stuff like “a heart attack on a bun,” and all that jazz. But any perceived danger from fast food is usually of the nutritional variety. That is not the case with the new Subway Fresh Melts. Or at least, that’s not the immediate concern.

Subway launched the Fresh Melt lineup last month, featuring Tuna, Ham, and Steak variations topped with a mildly worrying amount of cheese and toasted on long rolls. The problem is that when you triple the cheese in a Subway sandwich and throw it in the toaster, that cheese is going to start melting, dripping, and getting into everything. Not only has this dripping cheese caused actual damage to the Subway toasters, but its boiling hot makeup has proven to be extremely hazardous to Subway employees.

It’s for this reason that the North American Association of Subway Franchisees (or NAASF) has officially named the Fresh Melts a safety hazard, advising its members to consider very carefully before adding the menu item to their locations, all while condemning Subway corporate for not providing any kind of adequate response to these incidents.

“We are incredibly disappointed in FWH leadership’s plan to move full steam ahead with this launch before these significant issues are resolved,” the association said in a warning notice.

Subway's Newest Sandwiches Are a Safety Hazard, Operators Say https://t.co/tWGEU6fDan

— Weird News Bot (@WeirdNewsBot) May 7, 2021

Subway corporate, for their part, have sworn that the sandwiches went through extensive testing before their soft launch.

“The safety of our franchisees and their restaurant employees is a top priority for us,” a representative of the company told Restaurant Business. “In addition to providing extensive training materials, a standard protocol is to thoroughly test all new products and innovations and make operational and equipment adjustments as needed, ensuring that our franchisees and hard-working sandwich artists are able to safely and consistently execute a quality meal that guests expect.”