Subway, the popular sandwich chain, has announced the ingredient dubbed the "yoga mat chemical" will be entirely phased out of its bread by next week.

The disclosure comes after Subway suffered from an onslaught of bad publicity sparked by a food blogger who petitioned the chain to remove the ingredient.

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Subway restaurants announced they were eliminating azodicarbonamide, a chemical used in yoga mats, from breads, but the Environmental Working Gro...

The chemical is also used to make yoga mats.

Tony Pace, Subway's chief marketing officer, told the Associated Press that the chain had started phasing out the ingredient late last year and that the process should be complete within a week. Subway is privately held and doesn't disclose its sales figures. But it has apparently been feeling pressure from the uproar.

"You see the social media traffic, and people are happy that we're taking it out, but they want to know when we're taking it out," Pace said. "If there are people who have that hesitation, that hesitation is going to be removed."

John Coupland, a professor of food science at Penn State University, noted that people concerned about azodicarbonamide focus in part on a carcinogen called urethane it creates in the baking process. But he said some level of urethane is already present in bread and that even the simple act of toasting can increase its levels.

"Nobody worries about making toast," Coupland said, adding that one could argue there's some type of risk associated with any number of chemicals.

Coupland also questioned how Subway's removal of the ingredient would address the bigger question of whether its food is actually healthy.

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Subway: No more "yoga mat" chemical in our bread by next week

6 hours ago Apr. 11, 2014 - 11:50 AM PDT

Were getting closer to a Chrome OS tablet thanks to Lenovo, which is showing off its touchscreen convertible Thinkpad Yoga 11e. The $349 Chromebook arrives in June and although its geared for the education market, Lenovo is taking a cue from Dell and planning to sell the Yoga 11e to consumers as well.

Lenovo announced the device back in January and is now getting ready for the product launch. Brad Linder of Liliputing got a chance to use an early prototype thats why the touchscreen doesnt work 100 percent for him and shared this video demonstration of what to expect from the Chromebook.

Clearly, the Yoga 11e isnt the first touchscreen Chromebook to hit the market. Googles Chromebook Pixel claimed that prize when it launched a year ago and Acer followed with a lower-costing touchscreen model of its C720 Chromebook. Lenovo can claim to have the first convertible touchscreen Chromebook, however because like other Lenovo Yoga products, you can fold the screen all the way to the back of the laptop.

That makes the on-screen keyboard in Chrome OS a bit more valuable because the Yoga 11e can essentially be used like a Chrome OS tablet as needed. Or you could flip the screen back up and use the traditional ThinkPad keyboard. I suggested this very use case earlier this year noting that it would be more likely to see this type of form factor instead of an actual Chrome tablet because the Chrome OS isnt yet touch optimized.

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Originally posted here:
First look at Lenovos touchscreen Thinkpad Yoga 11e Chromebook (video)