Subway Footlong VS Froot Loops
Verdict DROP IT DROP 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.' The real ingredient list (via Open Food Facts, an independent open database) confirms there is no real fruit, fruit juice, or fruit puree in Froot Loops at all — the fruit flavors come entirely from 'natural flavors' (orange, lemon, blueberry, cherry, grape, lime-lemon flavoring) and the colors from artificial dyes (Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 1), not from any fruit ingredient. Nutritionally, it's 37.5g of sugar per 100g and carries a Nutri-Score of D (poor), the same real database's own quality grade. Separately, federal courts that heard the fruit-content lawsuits ultimately ruled in Kellogg's favor — not because the product contains fruit, but on the narrower legal finding that the invented word 'Froot' (not the real word 'fruit') isn't legally deceptive, since actual fruit doesn't come in loop shapes.
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.
Froot Loops: No — Froot Loops contains no real fruit. Its real, independently verified ingredient list shows the fruit flavors and colors come entirely from natural flavoring and artificial dyes, and it carries a Nutri-Score of D with 37.5g of sugar per 100g.