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Food Practices Banned in Europe But Allowed in the US

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Re: Food Practices Banned in Europe But Allowed in the US

#171

Post by epmatsw »

SeanDav wrote: post #151
kintamanimatt wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Business has its hand in the legislative process in Europe too. Europe's not some corruption-free idealistic utopia.

>Europe's not some corruption-free idealistic utopia I never said it was. Just in general Europe is driven more by what is good for the people, not what is good necessarily for big business. How else do you explain the gun laws of USA despite the numerous atrocities committed by people with easy access to huge quantities of ammunition and semi-automatic weapons? Can you say that the NRA has nothing to do with the gun…

It's written into our Constitution, which is very difficult to change? A significant portion of our population doesn't desire a change to gun laws?

And the point of the banned substances is that they're less expensive and more convenient. That's why they're used. Whether they're harmful or not is up for debate, but I don't think businesses use them because they don't work...

Re: Food Practices Banned in Europe But Allowed in the US

#172

Post by kbutler »

arethuza wrote: post #9
jkldotio wrote: post #6

The flipside of this are things like the banana regulation, more commonly known as Commission Regulation (EC) No 2257/94.[1] I believe it's now rescinded under ridicule but there are people who try to deny it even existed. It's well worth reading in full on eur-lex for riveting prose like "the measurement, in millimetres, of the thickness of a transverse section of the fruit between the lateral faces and the middle,…

If your comment about "right to make certain types of sausages" refers to the various protections around food actually coming from a particular area I actually think that is a good thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_indications_and_t... After all (to pick an example from the news today) - if something is described as "Stornoway Black Pudding" I'd like to believe it actually came from Stornoway: http://…

The "geographical indications" are a simple trademark landgrab (pun intended). The geographical regions are trying to recapture exclusive use of a genericized term. Think trampoline, escalator, zipper, and aspirin. The goal is to exclude competitors and increase profits.

Next up: France will assert control of the terms french bread, french toast, and french fries, but only to eliminate them as inferior food products.

Re: Food Practices Banned in Europe But Allowed in the US

#173

Post by steve19 »

mikeash wrote: post #138
beat wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alcohol laws in America are crazy. In Kentucky, there's a joke about how you know you've crossed a county line when the potholes end and the liquor stores begin. I live in Minnesota, where our liquor laws date back to the era when being a liberal meant you were for women voting and against ANYONE drinking. It was a big deal when we finally got to keep bars open til 2am, a few years back. We can't buy alcohol in store…

I never really understood how certain political factions can go on and on about supposed government control over our lives, all while completely ignoring pervasive crazy alcohol laws. Why can't I order beer over the internet? Why do I have to go to a state-owned store to buy vodka? Why don't these people who complain about "big government" ever bring it up?

My understanding is that incumbents have interests in keeping things the way they are. Some states ban stores buying liquor directly from the manufacturer (in theory to make sure liquor stores don't cheat the state out of tax) thereby creating a state granted monopoly to certain lucky distributors. There are industry lobby groups that oppose liberalizing alcohol law (as are certain conservative lobby groups).

Re: Food Practices Banned in Europe But Allowed in the US

#174

Post by exDM69 »

R_Edward wrote: post #125
tokenadult wrote: post #10

The most sensible European regulations of those listed in the article kindly submitted here are "What Europe did: Banned all forms of animal protein, including chicken litter, in cow feed in 2001." and "What Europe did: In the EU, all antibiotics used in human medicines are banned on farms—and no antibiotics can be used on farms for 'non-medical purposes,' i.e., growth promotion." I'd like to see the United States fo…

>Banned all forms of animal protein, including chicken litter, in cow feed in 2001. Saw a Dirty Jobs segment some time ago in which a Nevada pig farmer picks up all the waste from several casinos' buffets, hauls it out to his farm, hand-picks the plastic and other inedible crud out of it, liquefies it, steams it to kill off some of the bacteria, then feeds it to his hogs. My first thought was that it was pretty cleve…

Pigs are omnivorous and naturally eat carcasses of other pigs or in the case of packs of wild boar, sometimes even kill other pigs to eat them. Feeding pigs with food containing bits of pig meat (like human food leftovers) is not ideal but it's not a very serious situation.

Cows, on the other hand, are herbivores. Their digestive system cannot properly handle animal protein and this can have disastrous consequences. BSE, aka. mad cow decease is a symptom that is caused by feeding cows with animal protein, in particular from other cows. This decease is not caused by a bacteria or a virus, but a wrong kind of protein that ends up in the brain.

Re: Food Practices Banned in Europe But Allowed in the US

#176

Post by ars »

jmj42 wrote: post #167
ars wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hu? Why does the fact that the farmer is next to you have anything to do with his process? So if I buy from that same farmer you go to, but I'm hundreds of miles away I suddenly get those chemicals but you don't?

> Why does the fact that the farmer is next to you have anything to do with his process? It doesn't. It does, however, have everything to do with discovering what that process is. I walk up to a farmer at a local farmer's market and say, "Hey, do you feed your cows chicken shit?... No? Cool, can I buy some steaks from you?" Obviously there's better ways to present the question, but you get the point. It's far easier…

So you don't actually mean buy local.

You mean ask the farmer.

But it's not really all that hard to find this out even for bulk packaged meat if it's branded - just call that single company and ask.

If it's unbranded from your butcher then ask him. (Although admittedly he might not know.)

In all three cases it's just: "Ask".

Re: Food Practices Banned in Europe But Allowed in the US

#177

Post by mdisraeli »

jkldotio wrote: post #116
claudius wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "the measurement, in millimetres, of the thickness of a transverse section of the fruit between the lateral faces and the middle, perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis" Oh, look, a good definition in a legal document. Don’t people normally complain about ambiguous laws leaving interpretation open to the courts[0]? > Regulations over the official ingredients of jam So that consumers can buy jam everywhere in the…

>Oh, look, a good definition in a legal document. Don’t people normally complain about ambiguous laws leaving interpretation open to the courts Yes you have a "good definition" in the law there, but what is the law for ? It can't have been too important if they repealed it and some people deny its existence. >Or are you just annoyed that this is measured in millimetres rather than imperial attolightfortnights or simi…

Something that most people forget about the fruit and vegetable standards - gradings other than the finest can still be sold to the public. Just most supermarkets chose not to.

Re: Food Practices Banned in Europe But Allowed in the US

#178

Post by mietek »

Xylakant wrote: post #117
mietek wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In all honesty, British sausage probably should be renamed.

Most of all, all "german sausages" sold in britain show how much the brits still hate us krauts. Each and every one is an insult to every living german - and probably to the dead as well.

There is one shining beacon of hope! I try to visit every time I'm in London.

http://www.herman-ze-german.co.uk

Re: Food Practices Banned in Europe But Allowed in the US

#179

Post by mjn »

Zmetta wrote: post #56

|"You know how arsenic goes inorganic—and thus poisonous—in chickens' guts?" Correct chemistry but perhaps misleading to non-chemist readers. This is one reason that I oppose product labels advertising "green, organic, natural" products. I cannot help but think that some fickle readers will draw some association between inorganic and poisonous.

I prefer the German and Scandinavian descriptor "ecological food", rather than "organic food", partly for that reason.

Re: Food Practices Banned in Europe But Allowed in the US

#180

Post by jacoblyles »

mikeash wrote: post #138
beat wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alcohol laws in America are crazy. In Kentucky, there's a joke about how you know you've crossed a county line when the potholes end and the liquor stores begin. I live in Minnesota, where our liquor laws date back to the era when being a liberal meant you were for women voting and against ANYONE drinking. It was a big deal when we finally got to keep bars open til 2am, a few years back. We can't buy alcohol in store…

I never really understood how certain political factions can go on and on about supposed government control over our lives, all while completely ignoring pervasive crazy alcohol laws. Why can't I order beer over the internet? Why do I have to go to a state-owned store to buy vodka? Why don't these people who complain about "big government" ever bring it up?

Libertarians bring it up all the time. Here's a quick google search of a libertarian web site for "liquor laws"

https://www.google.com/search?q=liquor+site%3Areason.com&#38...

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