Subway bread is not bread, too sugary, rules Irish court2Photo© indianexpress.com

Subway bread is not bread, too sugary, rules Irish court

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Ireland’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the rolls used in American giant Subway’s hot sandwiches could not be defined as bread because they contain too much sugar, The Guardian reported. Ireland’s highest court made the ruling based on how bread is taxed.

The court was hearing a plea by Bookfinders Limited, an Irish franchisee of Subway. The company argued that the bread used in Subway sandwiches counted as a staple food and was consequently exempt from Value Added Tax, or VAT.

But the court pointed out that UK’s Value-Added Tax Act of 1972 distinguishes staple foods – bread, tea, coffee, cocoa, milk and “preparations or extracts of meat or eggs” – from “more discretionary indulgences” such as ice-cream, chocolate and pastries. The law adds that breads that are to be exempted from the VAT regime cannot have sugar exceeding 2% of the weight of flour.