What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.? • Hacker News Board

Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?

#101

Post by CorvusCrypto » Sat, Dec 29, 2018, 10:03 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #2

Anytime we talk about "banning" something I prefer a very conservative approach (conservative as in let's not ban things unless we are really sure). We are constantly learning new things that upend what we used to accept as science regarding nutrition and how the human body works. I think we do ourselves a disservice sometimes by banning things that we don't understand (and sometimes we think we understand but really…

>Allergies to common foods are increasing rapidly as well

Is there a list of stats for incidence of food allergies? It seems many friends I know (in EU) have food allergies to things like cucumber, hazel, peanuts, also gluten (celiax or something). One person I know has Crohn's disease. I would be curious to see the stats in both US and EU to see if it's really linked to a region's food. Or if it's just that common diets across the world are causing it.

Edit: or a third possibility is that rates haven't changed at all and it could be increase in either reporting or population making it seem like it's more commom now than before.

Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?

#102

Post by rubyfox » Sat, Dec 29, 2018, 10:10 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #95

peterstjohn wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any evidence that Ferrero is planning to drop Kinder Surprise?

You're asking for evidence of something nobody claimed. I simply stated that the US style Kinder eggs have appeared in Europe and are for sale.

“Moving away from in-egg version” suggests that Surprise will be dropped at some point.

Also, Joy were introduced in Italy in 2001, so they’ve been in Europe for a long time.

Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?

#103

Post by eesmith » Sat, Dec 29, 2018, 10:13 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #66

adventured wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haggis is not illegal in the US. It's illegal to import it eg from the UK. You can make and sell haggis domestically in the US.

> You can make and sell haggis domestically in the US I don't know if you're an expert in Haggis, so maybe you know more than me, but this FAQ says otherwise. http://www.scottishhaggis.com/index.php/frequently-asked-que... > the USDA does not allow sheep lungs to be used in manufacture

The text before your quote is "since we cannot import haggis to the US our haggis for the US market is made in Bangor Maine" and the text immediately after is "all haggis made in the US except our haggis links is in an artificial casing".

In other words, you pointed to a source which confirms that it is possible to make and sell haggis domestically in the US.

Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?

#104

Post by chrisseaton » Sat, Dec 29, 2018, 10:16 PM UTC

eesmith wrote: post #103

chrisseaton wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can make and sell haggis domestically in the US I don't know if you're an expert in Haggis, so maybe you know more than me, but this FAQ says otherwise. http://www.scottishhaggis.com/index.php/frequently-asked-que... > the USDA does not allow sheep lungs to be used in manufacture

The text before your quote is "since we cannot import haggis to the US our haggis for the US market is made in Bangor Maine" and the text immediately after is "all haggis made in the US except our haggis links is in an artificial casing". In other words, you pointed to a source which confirms that it is possible to make and sell haggis domestically in the US.

That's like saying hamburgers are allowed, you just can't have any ground beef in them. Haggis is made from sheep's lung - that's what it is. They just do a phony version for the Americans and call it haggis anyway.

Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?

#105

Post by opencl » Sat, Dec 29, 2018, 10:19 PM UTC

slavik81 wrote: post #91

opencl wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least some of the bans seem overly cautious. For example looking at the first item on the list, KBrO3 aka potassium bromate used as a flour additive. KBrO3 is a demonstrated carcinogen but it converts almost completely to KBr during the baking process. Straight from the paper[1] that seems to have been the basis of the ban, "adverse effects are not evident in animals fed bread-based diets made from flour treated w…

Lots of people eat raw dough. Licking the beaters is a tradition. If it's carcinogenic when uncooked, that really should have a warning so that people can ensure they prepare it properly. Though, apparently I don't need to worry about that, because it's banned in Canada.

The lowest dose found to have any effect in rats would be equivalent to eating ~5kg of uncooked flour per day, every day. I do not think many people eat anything remotely close to that amount of raw dough.

Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?

#106

Post by chillacy » Sat, Dec 29, 2018, 10:24 PM UTC

skh wrote: post #92

freedomben wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll agree with that wrt to Celiacs, but not the broader point. Many of the people that follow the Paleo diet (which is no small contingency) believe that wheat in general is indeed not safe.

I doubt you can find a credible source to say that wheat is poisonous or otherwise causes harm in the way that most people associated that word as it pertains to food. It may not be healthy and some people may think it’s better to eat other things but they don’t think it kills people or otherwise seriously harms a person. But even if you are right as it pertains to wheat your claim is that no food can be deemed safe.…

Tricky claim because everyone who says wheat is dangerous, you could claim is not credible to you, whereas someone else might find them to be credible. Could be real tautological.

Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?

#107

Post by skh » Sat, Dec 29, 2018, 10:48 PM UTC

chillacy wrote: post #106

skh wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt you can find a credible source to say that wheat is poisonous or otherwise causes harm in the way that most people associated that word as it pertains to food. It may not be healthy and some people may think it’s better to eat other things but they don’t think it kills people or otherwise seriously harms a person. But even if you are right as it pertains to wheat your claim is that no food can be deemed safe.…

Tricky claim because everyone who says wheat is dangerous, you could claim is not credible to you, whereas someone else might find them to be credible. Could be real tautological.

It’s not tricky. I’m a reasonable person. A credible source would be a published, peer reviewed research paper. There are other credible sources. This is just one example of a credible source.

Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?

#108

Post by Markoff » Sat, Dec 29, 2018, 10:56 PM UTC

lj3 wrote: post #25

nugator wrote: post #7

As a European I'm interested in knowing what most Americans thinks about this (their food has additives that is forbidden in Europe). Is there a feeling of Europeans being too cautious or would you like to have the same rules?

I would love to if the US had the same food quality laws that European countries have. By HN standards, I'm a right wing nutcase and am in favor of as small a government as we can stand, but our food is killing us. Bread has sugar in it. If you want bread without sugar in it, you must either pay more for the organic stuff or make it yourself. If you want bread without any additives or preservatives at all, you must b…

pretty sure sugar it's basic ingredient to make bread even in Europe to help yeast in warm water by my small experience with baking bread and going through tons of recipes

also what's wrong with iron and vitamin?

Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?

#109

Post by freedomben » Sat, Dec 29, 2018, 11:45 PM UTC

CorvusCrypto wrote: post #101

freedomben wrote: post #2

Anytime we talk about "banning" something I prefer a very conservative approach (conservative as in let's not ban things unless we are really sure). We are constantly learning new things that upend what we used to accept as science regarding nutrition and how the human body works. I think we do ourselves a disservice sometimes by banning things that we don't understand (and sometimes we think we understand but really…

>Allergies to common foods are increasing rapidly as well Is there a list of stats for incidence of food allergies? It seems many friends I know (in EU) have food allergies to things like cucumber, hazel, peanuts, also gluten (celiax or something). One person I know has Crohn's disease. I would be curious to see the stats in both US and EU to see if it's really linked to a region's food. Or if it's just that common d…

The stats that I've seen were at my allergist's office, so unfortunately I don't have a link. I'll definitely look for one tho.

What you say is very interesting. Cucumber (like citrus) was also not something that people really had allergies to until recently (or possibly your third possibility kicks in here). Peanuts and gluten have skyrocketed recently too.

Maybe off topic, but I read an interesting theory regarding the use of GMOs to explain this. The logic went basically like this:

Plants were genetically modified to be resistant to herbicides -> farmers began spraying fields indiscriminately, knowing that the plants they cared about wouldn't die, but the weeds would, therefore producing bumper crops much more regularly -> This led to one of two possibilities: 1. the chemicals are being consumed in unsafe quantities by humans now when they eat those plants or 2. the mutations that hardened the plants changed their protein structure such that they are less digestible, which leads to intestinal damage, which promotes intestinal permeability, which leads to food allergies to foods not previously a problem.

Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?

#110

Post by eesmith » Sat, Dec 29, 2018, 11:48 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #104

eesmith wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The text before your quote is "since we cannot import haggis to the US our haggis for the US market is made in Bangor Maine" and the text immediately after is "all haggis made in the US except our haggis links is in an artificial casing". In other words, you pointed to a source which confirms that it is possible to make and sell haggis domestically in the US.

That's like saying hamburgers are allowed, you just can't have any ground beef in them. Haggis is made from sheep's lung - that's what it is. They just do a phony version for the Americans and call it haggis anyway.

I believe I understand your viewpoint. Here's further commentary on the US version of haggis - https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21128089 - and Canadian - https://www.macleans.ca/culture/the-lung-debate-over-authent... .

I do not agree with your analogy. People do refer to "vegetarian hamburgers". For examples, https://www.yummly.com/recipe/Vegetarian-Hamburgers-626992?p... and https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g30196-d10434055... .

The Wikipedia page points out that "Some commercial haggis is largely made from pig, rather than sheep, offal" and points to http://www.ramsayofcarluke.co.uk/products/traditional-ball-h... which uses pig lungs instead of sheep lungs.

The Wikipedia page also references a 1615 recipe for haggis which does not require sheep lungs, saying "oat-meale mixed with blood, and the Liver of either Sheepe, Calfe or Swine, maketh that pudding which is called the Haggas or Haggus".

To me this sounds like the old gatekeeper question of who gets to assign authenticity. Since things called "haggis" are sold in Scotland (or at least the UK), and do not have sheep lungs, I think that means it is incorrect to say that just because a product sold in the US or Canada does not have sheep lungs in it, it cannot be called haggis.