Man films his sandwich being made at a Subway restaurant. Then he realizes what the worker is doing with the meat: ‘That’s unsanitized’

Watching your sandwich being made can sometimes reveal more than you bargained for. One Subway customer appeared to catch an employee scooping meat for his order, only to put some of it back into the shared bin. Kenlo, who posts on TikTok as @kenlo_dagoat, filmed the exchange, and the TikTok has since attracted more than a million views.

The first-person clip shows the service counter lined with bags of chips and a glass display case holding various sandwich ingredients. An off-screen Kenlo narrates while the camera focuses on the employee working behind the counter.

The Subway employee, wearing a black cap and clear gloves, holds a piece of bread in one hand and uses a utensil to scoop meat from a metal bin. Kenlo says in the video, “You finna put the same meat that you just tried to serve me with back in there?” as the employee appears to return the meat from the utensil back into the bin.

Subway sandwich video raises questions about utensil use and meat handling

Kenlo then states in the video, “That’s unsanitized,” while criticizing the action of returning the meat to the bin. The camera zooms in on the metal bins containing meats and cheeses before panning down to the bags of chips on the counter. The clip ends with a view of the chip display and the sandwich preparation area.

According to the FDA Food Code 2022, food shall only contact surfaces of equipment and utensils that are cleaned and sanitized as specified in the code. Section 3-304.12 explains how utensils used during food preparation must be stored between uses.

During pauses in food preparation or dispensing, food preparation and dispensing utensils shall be stored in the food with their handles above the top of the food and the container, among other listed options. The CDC describes contamination contributing factors that introduce or permit contamination of food. One factor, C8, covers cross-contamination of foods, excluding infectious food workers or handlers.

The pathogen is transferred to the food source from contaminated surfaces, foods, or fomites, which can include utensils, cutting boards, or preparation tables. Behind-the-counter habits have caught shoppers’ attention before, such as when a McDonald’s employee’s viral secrets video left customers rethinking how they order.

Examples listed by the CDC include a ready-to-eat food prepared on the same cutting board as contaminated raw poultry, or materials used to clean equipment that processed contaminated raw foods later used on surfaces contacting ready-to-eat foods without being disinfected. The CDC notes that pathogens can spread through contaminated food, utensils, preparation surfaces, and food workers’ hands.

Viewers offered mixed reactions in the comments. One person pointed to possible issues by writing, “cross contamination.” Another questioned the concern with, “how is it unsanitary.” A third defended the customer’s point, writing, “yall hating but he’s exactly right.”

Some called for outside action, with one writing, “Call the health department.” Others pushed back on the criticism. One stated, “As long as she didn’t hand it to you, it fine by food safety standards.” Another wrote, “I wish people would just hush and let folks do the job.” Customers filming their food has become a trend, like when a shopper suspected Aldi was allegedly 3D printing chicken after cooking it.

A commenter explained their view of the sequence by writing, “She didn’t do anything unsanitary. She just put in back in after placing it on the bread. You never touched it.”

The video does not establish that the employee contaminated the meat. The key question is whether the utensil touched the customer’s bread or another potentially contaminated surface before the meat was returned to the bin.