Mr. Kevin Hurley:

They are essentially regulated as food and they must comply with food legislation. Any manufacturer, distributor or shop must be registered with the authorities as a food business operator and these are inspected by environmental health officers in the same way as a food business. There are very strict controls and there must be compliance with food information and consumer laws. There cannot be claims that are disallowed by law. It is strict regulation.

The interpretation is in line with EU VAT legislation because annex III to the EU VAT directive permits reduced rates to apply to a number of products and they include foodstuffs and animal feeding stuffs. Revenue interprets that to mean that food supplements for farm animals are also zero rated. That is on Revenue's VAT rates index. Ingredients to produce food are also in that reduced rates section, as are supplements to the normal diet. The reduced rate, which is our de factozero rate, can apply to food supplements.