Here's some news you should have expected since a few months ago: After 22 years of being in the fast food industry in Singapore, Subway will be halal-certified from Sept. 1, 2018.

This will apply to all outlets except for the Wisteria branch, which is still in the process of getting the certification.

The process took an arduous 18 months of phasing out non-halal products, tweaking recipes to ensure the highest standard of products, and going through the stringent MUIS (Islamic Religious Council) guidelines.

Changes to the menu

Speaking to Mothership, Subway Singapore's country director Samad bin Mohd Shariff shared the following:

"Our ultimate goal of course is to be able to say that we want the whole population of Singapore to come to Subway."

Here are the changes Subway has made for the subs to be halal-compliant.

• Ham, Subway Club, Subway Melt: From ham to chicken ham
• Breakfast -- Ham, Egg & Cheese: From ham to chicken ham
• Cold Cut Trio, Meatball Marinara Melt, Steak and Cheese/Roast Beef: Changed to halal-certified products
• Italian BMT: From pork pepperoni to beef pepperoni, from pork salami to beef salami, from ham to chicken ham
• Bacon Ranch, Breakfast - Bacon, Egg & Cheese: From pork bacon to chicken bacon 
• Breakfast - Sausage, Egg & Cheese: From pork sausage to chicken sausage

[related_story]

New "Fresh Forward" concept

While news of Subway going halal may have been a long time coming, that's not the only new thing in Subway outlets these days.

Five Subway outlets have been revamped as part of Subway's global initiative, the Fresh Forward initiative.

They include:

• Heartbeat @ Bedok
• National University of Singapore
• Clementi Mall
• 456 Jurong West St 41
• Wisteria Mall (mall in Yishun)

These outlets have a modern, contemporary look, shaded in bright and bold colours and boasting new menu displays.

More outlets across the island will progressively converted.

Here are some things you can look forward to:

Customisable drinks and free wifi

Subway diners can stay connected with free wifi as well as several USB ports at these remodelled outlets.

Drinks have been upgraded too, with the new freestyle machine that allows lots of different choices.

Customers can choose from a wide array of drinks, from zero calorie, zero caffeine, to fruit-flavoured assortments.

You could theoretically come up with more than 50 different combinations to accompany your sandwich.

Personal sandwich making experience

Samad also emphasised the "closer and more transparent experience" with your sandwich artist.

The sandwich bar has been redesigned so that customers can get a closer look at the ingredients used.

[related_story]

Always continuing to improve products

With the massive changes Subway has gone through, there have been mixed reactions amongst the community, with some threatening to boycott the sandwich eatery.

However, Samad accepts their feedback and is positive that these customers will come back to patronise Subway once again.

"We invite them to come back. We invite them to give us feedback and we are always continuing to improve our products."

Top image by Sulaiman Daud.