And of course some foods are banned in the US but not Europe.
Do you have any examples? (Genuinely interested)
Kinder chocolate eggs, because they have toys that are surrounded by food. The toy is at risk of being eaten.
What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?
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Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?
#22Anytime 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…
>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 reall…
> Surely it makes more sense to be cautious about the things we ingest..
Completely agree
> If you aren't sure, then I don't think I get the logic on the default being "okay, feed it to your kids!".
False dichotomy. I don't think the choices are either "ban it" or "okay, feed it to your kids!" There's a middle ground there that I think makes more sense.
Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?
#23Anytime 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…
Why is it a disservice to demand we are sure something won't harm us before we build and industry around it? Can you name any specific items that you feel it was a disservice to ban, and say why?
Many of these food tech choices are the difference between more starvation and high enough yield to feed poor people. If we farmed the way we did 100 years ago, there would be mass starvation. The yield just isn’t there.
The FDA faces the same ethical dilemma every time they decide on new drugs. A slow approval process is literally letting people suffer and die in exchange for trials with more certainty.
The old FDA food guidelines that shape what schools are allowed to feed children are a perfect example of the stupidity of legislating based on poorly understood food science. “Carbs are good, fats are bad!”
Low sodium guidelines because “salt kills people!” also turned out to be pretty stupid in retrospect.
Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?
#24Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?
#25As 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 buy your wheat from outside the country. Wheat in the US is fortified with iron and vitamin B by law.
Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have any examples? (Genuinely interested)
Raw milk cheese is a classic
Raw milk cheese is not banned in the US, in fact it has a specific exemption in the federal law regarding unpasteurized milk. Further, those laws only apply to transportation across states, so you can legally buy raw milk within most (all?) states.
Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?
#27Anytime 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…
>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 reall…
It's impossible to prove that a food item is safe. The two categories are known to be bad and not know to be bad.
Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have any examples? (Genuinely interested)
Kinder chocolate eggs, because they have toys that are surrounded by food. The toy is at risk of being eaten.
edit: they sell Kinder joy, but not Kinder surprise. Joy has the egg cut in half and the halves are packaged separately.
Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?
#29The article mentions growth hormones. Although banned throughout the EU in 1988, they are likely still used illegally. Notably, the "hormone maffia" murdered Belgian inspector Karel Van Noppen in 1995.
Re: What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?
#30They left out chlorinated chicken.