Breakfast cereal producer Kellog's has paid only €7m in corporation tax on €7.1bn in sales routed through Ireland, it has been revealed.

The analysis by the Irish Times follows the companies warning to investors in its annual report that the tightening of international tax laws could result in a "material impact" on its bottom line.

In the past five years, over €7.1bn in sales from Europe, the Middle East and Africa have been directed through Kellogg's Europe Trading (KET), which is registered in Dublin.

Despite the massive earnings, only a minuscule amount has been paid in tax. This is because KET is often loss-making due to high interest loans received from a Luxembourg-based Kellogg's subsidiary.

The company's 2013 accounts show it paid no corporation tax in Ireland after making a loss of €101m on sales of €1.4bn because of €148m in loan interest. That year the company had accrued a deferred tax asset of €29.5m, which can be written-off against future corporation tax.

Speaking about the OECD's proposed international corportino tax reforms, a representative said Kellogg's could not predict the effect of new legislation: 

"We don't know what, if any, the potential impact of this will be on our business and so we have to flag it within our annual report as an  uncertainty."

"We are a responsible taxpayer and always work closely with the tax authorities and within the tax laws of the countries in which we make and sell food."

Kellogg's has received criticism in Britain recently, having paid effectively no corporation tax there in 2013.