The “bread ” surrounding sandwiches made by the fast food chain Subway has too much sugar to meet the legal definition of bread, the Irish Supreme Court has ruled.
Food and Wine reports: “According to the Subway Ireland website, the chain’s six-inch and footlong subs are available on six different kinds of bread, including nine-grain multi-seed, Italian white bread, Italian herbs and cheese, nine-grain wheat, hearty Italian, and honey oat. And, according to the country’s Supreme Court, all six varieties are too sugary to legally be called ‘bread’ at all. “
The Guardian adds: “Under Ireland’s Value-Added Tax Act of 1972 it cannot even be defined as a staple food, according to the Irish Independent, because it contains too much sugar. … The bread’s sugar content – five times the qualifying limit under the act – means that it falls outside of the legal definition of a staple food. The ruling included white and wholegrain bread. The definition serves to differentiate bread from other baked goods.”
The ruling came in a lawsuit about whether Subway is exempt from Ireland’s Value-Added Tax Act of 1972.
