Subway is making a major change to its sandwiches

Subway will start making longer sandwiches after a lawsuit claimed the chain's footlong sandwiches were shorter than advertised, according to a settlement agreement.

The company came under fire two years ago when a photo went viral online; it depicted a footlong sub next to a tape measure that showed the sandwich was actually 11 inches.

The photo prompted a class-action lawsuit from Subway consumers who said that they were cheated out of an inch of their sandwiches.

Subway has now agreed to start requiring franchisees to measure the bread they serve to ensure that footlong subs are 12 inches and 6-inch subs are no less than 6 inches, according to the settlement agreement, which was granted final approval last week by a federal judge.

The judge also ordered Subway to pay $520,000 in attorney fees and $500 to each of the 10 people who were representatives of the class. The Associated Press first reported on the agreement.

Subway has agreed to start compliance inspections to make sure restaurants are adhering to the new rules, according to the agreement.

The restaurant chain will edit its training materials and franchisee protocols, "which had previously allowed for a small tolerance in the size of a footlong sandwich," to require that a footlong must be at least 12 inches.

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