Muhammad Sa

Some confusion regarding my company already selling freeze-dried fruit or vegetable powders, fit for direct human food consumption, supplementing meals, home-baking etc, excluding any additives or preservatives. They are marketed as such, without any inferrence to potential uses. To use the exact same products, but blend and repackage them for the convenience of making a 'smoothie', I think there is a case for this to be standard-rated due to the 'syrups, crystals, powders and flavourings for making any standard-rated drink;' (VFOOD7580). However, the contents themselves can still seem still zero-rated, containing the complete contents of the foodstuffs i.e. the fibre etc, and they can be used in home-baking, meals etc in just the same way. Many customers buy this product marketed for 'smoothies' to simply enhance their porridge or exercise supplements, for example. Due to the nature of this product being dried-food in a certain packaging, there is limited precedent to go off. Is the distinction point solely the preparation of the product? Does this include how it is predominantly marketed? If it is marketed differently but packaged the same, does that bear any weight? Because there is a clear distinction from the uses as a 'beverage', due to it actually being natural food and not concentrated juice or pulps lending itself to a singular type of use. In Unilever Bestfoods UK Ltd (V.20016), the tribunal noted the lack of water content as an important factor. This product in question has lost 99.9% of its water content. But the assumed finished product would pass the beverage test averred to in Sunjuice (LON/92/73Y) and Tropicana (LON/92/234Z). Finally, the overarching guidelines 'Food products (VAT Notice 701/14)', states 'juice and juice concentrates (Beverages or products for the preparation of beverages)' and 'Pulps that are to be made into beverages, for example, fruit and vegetable smoothies' as standard-rated. However freeze-dried powders are not pulps nor juice concentrates, essentially due to their nature that they are classified as whole foodstuffs.