In a bizarre development, the Supreme Court of Ireland ruled that the bread used by Subway – one of the most popular sandwich franchises in the world –   in its sandwiches and other items is not actually bread.

The ruling came when Bookfinders Ltd, which is Subway's Irish franchisee, approached the court saying that the company's bread should be exempted from VAT as bread was a staple food.

However, the top court, in its judgment, said that the bread used by the outlet in Ireland contained too much sugar to be defined as bread. Therefore, it is not eligible for VAT exemption, it said.

As reported, under Ireland's VAT Act of 1972, the quantum of sugar in a piece of bread should not be more than 2% of the weight of flour in the dough. However, Subway's bread was found having ten times the allowed quantity, that is to say, 10% of sugar, thereby barring it from being qualified as bread.