In ruling NY N312553 (July 16, 2020), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) discussed the classification of vegetable oil spreads.

There are two products under review:

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® is made of vegetable oil (canola oil, palm kernel oil, and palm oil, canola – 45 percent), water, salt, sunflower lecithin, natural flavor, vinegar, vitamin A palmitate and beta-carotene (color). The product will be imported in retail sized tubs with a net weight of 490 grams.

Flora™ Plant Butter is made of vegetable oil (palm oil, palm kernel oil, sunflower oil, and canola oil – 79 percent), water, salt, sunflower lecithin, fava bean protein, citric acid, natural flavor, beta carotene (color), and vitamin A palmitate.  The product will be imported in retail sized paper wrappers with a net weight of 250 grams.

CBP determined that the applicable subheading for the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!®” and “Flora™ Plant Butter” will be 1517.90.9090, HTSUS, which provides for: “Margarine; edible mixtures or preparations of animal or vegetable fats or oils or of fractions of different fats or oils of this chapter, other than edible fats or oils or their fractions of heading 1516: Other: Other: Other.” The rate of duty is 8.8 cents/kg.