What are Pringles? And When is a Cake a Biscuit?

I remembered this this morning when I heard a good gag on the radio. The comedian quipped "Pringles are the only self-regulating junk food -- when your hand is too fat to fit in the tube you know you've had enough". Made me chuckle.

Anyway it reminded me of the UK High Court's ruling that Pringles were not in fact crisps (potato chips to the Americans out there). Apparently the firm took this to court to avoid paying VAT (sales tax) at 17.5% on snacks made from potatoes.

Turns out, according to the experts, that only 42% of said snack food is made from potatoes or potato flour... which makes you wonder what on earth the other 58% is!

Of course this follows earlier cases where manufacturers have tried to prove their produce is not one particular food item for tax purposes... apparently Jaffa Cakes are cakes rather than biscuits (cookies). But all this pales into insignificance when you consider Marks and Spencer's Tea Cakes.

The famous UK food and clothing retailer has spent 13 and 1/2 years fighting to reclaim tax it paid because the UK government classed its teacakes as biscuits rather than cakes. Eventually this went to the highest court in the UK (The House of Lords) and then to the European Court of Justice where Euro-judges ruled that M&S were entitled to a £3.5 million rebate.

Just picture the Law Lords in their robes and wigs arguing about whether a cake was a cake or a biscuit -- only in Britain LOL