I’m a scientist who studies foodborne bacteria so every once in awhile I like to post about issues in food.

Today’s topic is meat migration. Meat migration describes the situation in which eating a sandwich at one end slowly causes the fill ingredients to slide out the other end. You end up with either a big chunk of meat, cheese, and lettuce sliding out onto your lap or a similar chunk remaining after you’ve reached the end of the bread.

I’ve figured out that the most common cause of meat migration is improper stacking of the sandwich elements during construction combined with an overabundance of condiment.

Some establishments have tried to solve meat migration by toasting their sandwiches but from time to time I find that it still occurs (especially in Potbelly’s sandwiches.) The nationwide chain Jimmy Johns, in my opinion, is responsible for the most incidents of meat migration but since their sandwiches are so tasty I generally let them slide (pun intended.)

A skilled sandwich maker can overcome the tendencies of meddlesome migratory meat. For example, the staff at the Jimmy John’s near my work (79th and Harlem, next to the Gamestop) have not sold me a meat migrating sandwich in weeks. They may have developed a cure which I pray they’re going to publish in all of the scholarly sandwich journals.

I don’t eat at Subway enough to know if they’ve cracked the problem but I do know that they have a problem with Dairy Overlap. It’s possible that Dairy Overlap is the solution to Meat Migration but, like I said, I don’t eat at Subway (ever since I went in there and ordered an Italian sub and the guy looked at me like I was fucking crazy.)