PRINGLES®: LEGALLY NOT POTATOES FOR TAX PURPOSES

[defrog]

ITEM [via Neatorama]: Pringles® are not potato chips because they don't fulfill the legal definition of “potato crisp”, the British word for “chip”, according to a UK judge.

Procter & Gamble's lawyers claimed at a May hearing that Pringles don't look like a chip, don't feel like a chip, and don't taste like a chip, according to the judgment. They also claim the snack isn't made like a chip since it is cooked from baked dough, not potato slices.

Potato chips “give a sharply crunchy sensation under the tooth and have to be broken down into jagged pieces when chewed,” the Cincinnati-based company's lawyers argued. “It is totally different with a Pringle, indeed a Pringle is designed to melt down on the tongue.”

BACKGROUND: Under UK law, most food is exempt from the 17.5% sales tax. Exceptions include potato chips, sticks or puffs “and similar products made from the potato, or from potato flour, or from potato starch.”

Result: Pringles® can now be sold tax free in the UK, even though no one knows what they’re legally made of.

FUN FACT: I have a can of Pringles® sitting on my desk right now. First ingredient on the list: “dried potatoes”.

HYPOTHESIS: P&G’s lawyers practice some spooky voodoo.

I can’t believe it’s not potatoes,

This is dF