The Subway location at 4155 Rhea County Highway in South Dayton, Tennessee, received a score of 61 during a routine health inspection on January 20, 2026, indicating significant violations and a failing performance under Tennessee’s food service establishment scoring system (where scores below around 70-80 often signal serious issues, and lower scores like this are commonly described as failing in local reports).

Key problems included the person in charge failing to demonstrate proper knowledge or perform required duties, such as being unaware of the location of a metal stem food thermometer and correct reheating procedures; inspectors strongly recommended immediate food safety training and ANSI-certified manager certification for person-in-charge staff.

Multiple critical violations were noted: improper hand hygiene (an employee touched their hat with gloved hands then prepped food, and another reached into a trash cut-out with gloved hands before handling food), inadequate reheating of meatballs (only 80°F in the steamer, with about 3 pounds embargoed), food-contact surfaces not properly cleaned and sanitized (knives stored in dirty standing water, dried lettuce on the slicer, and biofilm on the lobby ice dispenser), and toxic substances improperly stored (unlabeled chemical bottles and an open bucket of unidentified chemicals near clean pans and the back door).

Other violations covered a wide range of issues: no paper towels in the men’s restroom, no metal stem thermometer available, back door not self-closing, employees wearing watches while prepping food, wet nesting of clean pans, single-service items stored on the floor, stained and grooved cutting boards, dirty counters and floors, a continuously running toilet in the women’s restroom, employee clothing stored improperly, outdated or missing posted permit and inspection records, and no required no-smoking sign outside the front door.

Some violations were corrected on the spot (COS), such as handwashing and certain cleaning/sanitizing issues, but the overall inspection revealed widespread lapses in hygiene, sanitation, facility maintenance, and managerial oversight.

Those interested in reading the full report can do so here: https://inspections.myhealthdepartment.com/tennessee/inspection/?inspectionID=F6A1AA77-E897-49CA-9885-93CFA8EA8DE9