SCANDALS - Tonnogate

Is celebrity butcher Dario Cecchini really selling tuna fish at his meaty new sandwich shop?

- ROBIN RAISFELD AND ROB PATRONITE

THESE ARE UNSETTLING times for tuna-sandwich eaters. You might think that of all the foods on the planet, the humble, mayo-whipped totem of the American lunch box would be the least likely to be cloaked in drama and intrigue. Not so. In January, the Washington Post broke news of the Great Subway Tuna-Hero Scandal. The story went viral, but in case you missed it, here are the pertinent details: Two Bay Area customers sued the sandwich juggernaut, claiming Subway had served them a substance that a lab revealed was not only not tuna, it wasn’t even fish.

A slew of clickbait headlines followed. Subway called the lawsuit “reckless,” “without merit,” and “improper.” In February, Inside Edition conducted its own traffic seeking lab-test investigation: It’s tuna, it concluded. Not to be outdone, the New York Times’ “Sunday Styles” section weighed in four months later with another lab report: No, it’s not tuna, it said—well, it wasn’t exactly sure whether it was or wasn’t; in fact, the Times didn’t know what to call it. Wanting to have the last word, Inside Edition sent another round of samples to its lab. The verdict: It’s tuna all right, 100 percent.

From the beginning, there was something murky about the suit and the subsequent media attention. More questions were raised than answered: Why didn’t the plaintiffs’ legal team reveal the name of the lab and its precise findings? Why did the