Subway Footlong VS Cheerios
Verdict DROP IT BUY IT
The Reality After an Australian teenager posted a photo in 2013 showing his 'Footlong' measuring only 11 inches, a New York Post check of seven Footlongs purchased in New York found four measured only 11 or 11.5 inches. A resulting US class-action lawsuit reached a settlement requiring Subway to maintain practices ensuring its bread is at least 12 inches for four years, with ten named plaintiffs receiving $500 each. However, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that settlement in August 2017, calling it 'worthless' because limited discovery had actually found Subway already took steps to ensure 12-inch bread and that the minor length variability was due to normal, unpreventable baking variation -- meaning the underlying claims had little merit once properly examined, and the court held 'no class action settlement that yields zero benefits for the class should be approved.' On May 5, 2009, the FDA sent General Mills a formal warning letter finding these specific, quantified claims made Cheerios an unapproved new drug under federal law, since companies are legally barred from quantifying a specific percentage health benefit the way General Mills had. Critically, the underlying science itself wasn't in dispute: Cheerios' general soluble-fiber cholesterol-lowering claim had already been an FDA-authorized qualified health claim for 12 years at that point, and General Mills maintained the clinical study behind the 4% figure was genuinely strong. The issue the FDA flagged was specifically the precise quantification ('4% in 6 weeks'), not the broader, already-approved claim that whole-grain oat soluble fiber can help reduce cholesterol as part of a diet low in saturated fat.
SHORT ANSWER
Subway Footlong: A viral 2013 photo and follow-up press checks found some real 'Footlong' sandwiches measuring only 11 to 11.5 inches, but a federal appeals court later found Subway's actual baking process was already designed to produce 12-inch bread, with the shortfall caused by normal, unpreventable oven variability rather than a deliberate shortchange.
Cheerios: Cheerios' general claim that whole-grain oat soluble fiber can help lower cholesterol is a legitimate, FDA-authorized health claim with real science behind it -- but General Mills' specific 2009 quantified claim ('4% in 6 weeks') crossed into illegal, unapproved drug-claim territory and drew a formal FDA warning letter.