Ireland supreme court rules that Subway's sandwich bread is not legally bread

LONDON -- Ireland’s Supreme Court has issued a ruling declaring that for the purposes of tax law, the bread served in Subway's hot sandwiches does not actually meet the legal definition of “bread” because of its sugar content and is rather a "confectionary or fancy baked good."

The ruling, which was handed down on Sept. 29 by the five-judge Irish Supreme Court, said that the bread’s sugar content -- which is five times higher than what was set out in Ireland’s Value-Added Tax Act of 1972 -- is too sugary to meet the legal definition of bread and therefore cannot be called a staple food.

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Do you think that subway 'bread' is bread?

If they are filling it with addictive substance and calling it "bread", yea, fair game to the Irish.

What was the need to do this in Ireland? Was Subway benefitting or costing the government money w/ some tax loophole thanks to the bread definition?

@shellcase86: Staple foods are exempt from Ireland's value added tax.

Man Subway, your chicken is 50% other substances, and your bread is basically cake.

Yes

Bookfinders claimed it was entitled to a refund on the grounds that the VAT should have been 0% because it qualified as a staple food.

Good for Ireland.

Gross.

And here I was about to defend Subway; I know they are low quality, but I thought they were at least somewhat wholesome.

TBH I think their quality has gone severely downhill ever since the whole Jared thing.

@mrbojangles25: I will give them this. When you get a sandwich with everything on it, it does come with a substantial amount of vegetables.

Subway is a physique killer. I remember they used to have some chemical in the bread that is also used in yoga mats in order to maintain its fluffy texture. I used to eat it a lot in high school and college, now I’d rather skip a meal than stop at subway for food.

Dunno why anyone would eat that nasty shit anyway. Local sub places are usually superior and then you also got stuff like Jersey Mikes.

Doesn't surprise me. A lot of Subway items are a bit off. The weirdest Subway offering IMO is their tuna. I mean, it's tasty, but when you see its protein content, you realize that there cannot be as much tuna in it as it seems. Also, their nutrition listing for it shows a lot more trans fat than would be normal if mayonnaise were used. It almost has to be some kind of high-trans fat margarine they put in that stuff instead of mayonnaise.

Have we strayed too far from "bread" being flour, water, yeast and maybe a sprinkle of salt and sugar?

This reminds me: Food Theory has a video on it:

Well, if governments actually cared about people's health and stop complaining about healthcare costs, then ban the crap, ban booze and ban smoking.

Sugar has other negative effects obviously.

Very obvious one being teeth, the UK, and to a degree, Ireland, aren't exactly renowned for their dental care.