The way food items are marketed affects their GST status. Marketing includes:
- how goods are promoted or advertised
- the name, price, labelling, instructions, packaging and placement of the goods in the store.
The following products are GST-free:
- fats and oils marketed for culinary purposes
- malt extract marketed mainly for drinking
- preparations that are marketed mainly as tea, coffee, or malted beverages
- preparations marketed mainly as substitutes for tea, coffee or malted beverages
- dry preparations marketed to flavour milk
- beverages and ingredients for beverages marketed mainly as food for infants or invalids.
The following products are taxable:
- food marketed as a prepared meal, excluding soup
- food marketed as confectionery
- food marketed exclusively as ingredients for confectionery
- flavoured ice-blocks, whether frozen or not.