In Ireland, the Supreme Court has dealt with a curious issue: Are subway sandwiches bread? No, the judges decided: there is a lot of sugar in the products – so more taxes have to be paid.

VThe sandwiches sold by the American chain Subway are the highest Irish dish, not bread, but candy. The Irish Supreme Court in Dublin has found that sugar levels exceed the limit values ​​of Irish bread. This limit is set out in Irish tax law: staple foods are exempt from VAT, including bread. However, it may contain enough sugar that the weight of the flour is a maximum of two percent. The court ruled this week that the ratio was 10 percent in the case of subway sandwiches. Therefore, the product should be classified as a candy.

The court had to deal with this question because the Irish subway franchise bookfinders argued that sandwiches should be exempt from VAT. The company felt that it had paid too much tax and was entitled to a refund. However, this was denied to her in the judgment. The US-based subway network has branches in more than 100 countries around the world.