Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

grubstreet.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 333 posts

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#221

Post by gruez »

conistonwater wrote: post #150
rvba wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that there is the CE symbol (confirmation of Europan standards) and there is also a very simila CE symbol that means "China Export". The second one does not have anything to do with European standards. It is deceptively similar.. guess why

Wikipedia says the European Commission says this is an urban legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking#China_Export I mean I don't know anything about it, just wanted to point that out. But then this one https://support.ce-check.eu/hc/en-us/articles/360008642600-H... says it's real, I'm confused. Edit: I'm going to go through every single device/cable I have at home and examine the font and the arrangement of t…

Isn't it trademark infringement either way? If you tried this with the apple logo and your business was us based you'd be sued out of existence.

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#222

Post by metaphor »

legerdemain wrote: post #49

The article mentions the fact that the FDA calls all legal pasta "enriched macaroni." The article also mentions trade groups pressuring the FDA to set arbitrary standards on pasta to keep out imports of Asian noodles. The article fails to mention what the FDA calls Asian noodle products. It calls them "alimentary paste."

> It calls them "alimentary paste."

Citation?

The article doesn't mention "alimentary paste" anywhere, so your remark comes off as assertive, yet I couldn't find traceability to this term in what I believe to be the applicable federal statute[1].

[1] https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?node=pt21.2.139&rgn=di...

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#223

Post by JackFr »

jldugger wrote: post #36
Scoundreller wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a good point though. Why/how is something unsafe for an American, but safe for an Italian or Spaniard? Differing regulations and standards between countries usually makes no sense and just harms the consumer. How is a Volvo made for the Swedish market unsafe on Canadian roads? EU and Canada recently signed a trade agreement so that they won't tariff eachothers' cars, but consumers still can't buy a car from a Eu…

> It's a good point though. Why/how is something unsafe for an American, but safe for an Italian or Spaniard? America has a longstanding tradition of food fortification. Niacin is also used to supplement US diets featuring a corn staple -- corn's niacin is not bioavailable without additional processing traditional to Mesoamerican cultures. Probably more recognized today is iodized salt, which is responsible for perha…

Domestic producers of [all products] in [all countries] have a longstanding tradition of using the apparatus of government to protect their business from competition. These arguments typically take the form of national security, consumer safety and unfair competitive practices.

In some cases these arguments are made in good faith.

In even rarer cases these arguments are true.

But initially it's wise to take them with a grain of salt.

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#225

Post by JackFr »

howlgarnish wrote: post #45
Scoundreller wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a good point though. Why/how is something unsafe for an American, but safe for an Italian or Spaniard? Differing regulations and standards between countries usually makes no sense and just harms the consumer. How is a Volvo made for the Swedish market unsafe on Canadian roads? EU and Canada recently signed a trade agreement so that they won't tariff eachothers' cars, but consumers still can't buy a car from a Eu…

In this particular case it's not even a matter of safety: pasta with 13 mg/lb, and as far as I can tell (read: Wikipedia) iron deficiency does not appear to be a serious health problem for most Americans (or Europeans). If anything, mandatory enrichment seems like an arbitrary trade barrier imposed on the US side to protect what the article calls "Big Pasta" from foreign interlopers.

The article literally describes this.

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#226

Post by JackFr »

pkos98 wrote: post #103

Hey folks, European chiming in here. If you are serious about bucatini, shoot me a DM and we can discuss importing that precious golden Ambrosia into the US of A, maybe declared as 'alimentary paste', drinking straw - or even use 'the Mexican route' to import it, if you know what I mean. I have to go now, my pasta is ready.

To be clear, when I say 'bucatini pipeline' I am referring to the elaborate method of import, rather than a pipeline made of bucatini.

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#227

Post by loblollyboy »

sam_goody wrote: post #97

The writing style is awesome, I literally laughed out loud. Beyond that, the article reminds us that in every industry there are powerful actors that protect their monopoly, and will coerce the government into helping them. I read an article about import taxes on sugar that were created to keep out competition, and as a result everything uses corn syrup. Other examples abound. Unfortunately, the solution of governmen…

Gonzo food writing w a sprinkling of twitterhumor

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#228

Post by pksebben »

afc wrote: post #214
Finnucane wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s like they’re trying to sound so refined and particular that only one kind of pasta is worth eating, but it makes you think they know nothing about pasta, or cooking it.

Funny, I read it as entirely the opposite, as very tongue-in-cheek and self-deprecating, where the author just exaggerates these things but anyone would know he doesn't mean them seriously. Interesting that we seem to have such different reactions to this writing. :-)

There's this strange cultural divide in the US, and it's not a republican-Democrat thing or a gender thing or a race thing. People from certain cliques are more comfortable with snark, self deprecation, and the sort of hyperbolic lampooning that this article engaged in (I'm in this camp), whereas others read snobbery and cruelty and such from identical sources (and I'm fairly certain the author isnot implying they are better than anyone because of their love for 'the best pasta').

It might be a coastal thing. My Brooklyn friends are usually camp A, my California people skew more camp B, but that's not a hard rule and super subject to sample bias.

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#229

Post by sunpar »

kqvamxurcagg wrote: post #134
sunpar wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think most of the governmental functions in this article worked quite well. Told another way, a firm in the marketplace for pasta found that a competitor was out of regulation with their product, and they found a person in congress who could press a slow-moving and ineffective agency to do better at doing their job: enforcing said regulations. That's exactly what you want your elected representatives to do…

Not sure how much experience you have working with business or government but what you'll find is that large corporates will have 'access' to regulators and legislators who can legislate or enforce on their behalf. The senior people will know each other and get things moving. Medium sized businesses (up to $100m revenues) will find it very difficult even getting a response. Even getting their attention is a competiti…

I think it's obviously true that monied interests will have greater access to regulators and corporations than smaller operations do. We should seek to limit that advantage when possible, but it's doubtful that we can ever truly eliminate it.

Speaking specifically about this case though, it doesn't seem like a big business tossing its weight around, but some large multinational businesses working within existing regulatory and bureaucratic systems to ensure their competitors are not unfairly gaining by flouting the law.

It is akin to an auto company finding another company has saved money by not complying with emissions standards.

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#230

Post by antiterra »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #187
kqvamxurcagg wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's small relative to other industries but its still a multi-billion dollar industry. Each of the largest companies will have PR agencies, personal contacts within the FDA, revolving door of staff between the FDA and the corporates, positions on standards committees, board members who have spent a life time in food safety governance. I'm sure many of these manufacturers are the largest employers in some congressiona…

> but its still a multi-billion dollar industry There's 330 million people in the US. Everything the average person spends six dollars a year on is a multi- billion dollar industry. >Each of the largest companies will have PR agencies, personal contacts within the FDA, revolving door of staff between the FDA and the corporate, positions on standards committees, board members who have spent a life time in food safety…

Chastising someone here for ‘running their mouth’ when they are commenting in good faith is not welcome.

No one was ‘out for blood,’ the poster simply made the claim that the inability to lobby effectively is a challenge to smaller companies. That’s exactly why the consortium you listed exists, and is based in DC.

I would guess that, usually, interests align and it most often helps a small manufacturer that ADM (16 bil revenue a year) is in the pasta business. However, if ADM wants to get a good deal on the majority stake of a gluten-free pasta up-and-comer, they likely have a few levers they can pull to create pressure.

Post reply on HN