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Banned bread: why does the US allow additives that Europe says are unsafe?

theguardian.com

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Re: Banned bread: why does the US allow additives that Europe says are unsafe?

#31

Post by DennisP »

saalweachter wrote: post #7

I do not know anything about these chemicals in particular, but this framing: > It may sound odd, but in America, your loaf of bread can contain ingredients with industrial applications – additives that also appear in things like yoga mats, pesticides, hair straighteners, explosives and petroleum products. always bugs the hell out of me. Water has numerous industrial applications. Linseed oil and NaCl have numerous i…

I agree in general but in this case, they detailed specific health concerns for two specific chemicals in the next three sentences, so it seems like a fairly minor offense.

Re: Banned bread: why does the US allow additives that Europe says are unsafe?

#32

Post by geggam »

weberc2 wrote: post #27
geggam wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps Monsanto ? The US needs a hard reset, there wont be a simple method to fix what is broken here.

I was hoping for a more substantial reply than "America sucks; it won't work".

America doesn't suck, I spent the last 6 months in the EU and I miss what we have here. That said, the issue you are talking about is directly related to large corporate profits.

A hard reset is what it will take to change that.

I do not refer to socialism either. Taking the power back from the govt and the corporations they empower is the key.

Re: Banned bread: why does the US allow additives that Europe says are unsafe?

#33

Post by NullPrefix »

logfromblammo wrote: post #29
maxxxxx wrote: post #2

I always look at the ingredients list of bread in the US and I am always surprised how long the list is. Why do they put so much stuff (and always sugar or syrup) into any bread?

Some of it, because they are required to, by law. Some of it, because they are allowed to, by law. Usually, whenever you see sugar added where it is not necessary, it's because fat or salt was removed from the recipe, to "improve" the numbers on the nutrition panel. And then you have to add the fat and salt back in yourself later, with butter or mayo or something. You can't reliably and conveniently get "good" bread…

>. And then you have to add the ... and salt back in yourself later, with butter or mayo or something.

Sounds like you're addicted to salt. Have you tried food without salt? After couple of weeks your taste buds adapt and you can actually taste the food.

Re: Banned bread: why does the US allow additives that Europe says are unsafe?

#34

Post by [deleted] »

gerbilly wrote: post #26
thatfrenchguy wrote: post #12

I've always been fascinated by how disgusting the bread is in the US. Do we know what lead to this ?

The US has no food culture, come on they sell cheese in spray cans.¹ Generally food in the US is sold for size, not flavour or nutritional content. For example US roaster chickens are huge but basically live short sick lives and taste bland.² Chickens sold in France are smaller but have more flavour. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Cheese 2: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1541-4337.1...

[deleted]

Re: Banned bread: why does the US allow additives that Europe says are unsafe?

#35

Post by rasz »

maxxxxx wrote: post #2

I always look at the ingredients list of bread in the US and I am always surprised how long the list is. Why do they put so much stuff (and always sugar or syrup) into any bread?

Screw bread, they put sugar into mouthwash...

Re: Banned bread: why does the US allow additives that Europe says are unsafe?

#36

Post by kevin_b_er »

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #12

I've always been fascinated by how disgusting the bread is in the US. Do we know what lead to this ?

Greed. There's no simpler explanation. It starts with trying to find bread-like material that tastes even better. You can do so by adding sugar. You want it to last even longer on the shelves so you make it non-perishable with chemicals that weren't previously used in food that are just grandfathered as "safe" to appease industry.

Thus you get US Bread.

Re: Banned bread: why does the US allow additives that Europe says are unsafe?

#37

Post by topkai22 »

Pretty sure the two chemicals they are talking about in the article are in a lower WHO risk category in then bacon, salted fish, and alcoholic beverages.

The FDA may be underfunded and overwhelmed but I'm not yet feeling terrible about buying bread in the grocery store.

Re: Banned bread: why does the US allow additives that Europe says are unsafe?

#38

Post by goostavos »

cknoxrun wrote: post #3
maxxxxx wrote: post #2

I always look at the ingredients list of bread in the US and I am always surprised how long the list is. Why do they put so much stuff (and always sugar or syrup) into any bread?

I was surprised to see how much sugar is in bread in the US compared to the bread I buy in Canada (specifically grocery store "bagged bread"). The sweetness makes it taste awful, and hides the taste of the wheat and different grains.

It's also crazy hard to find bread _without_ sugar. I get that some will be in there for color / browning during cooking, but the amounts that are present in the average loaf are insane. I've had loafs that were like 5% sugar by weight (as measured from my kitchen scale + food label).

Re: Banned bread: why does the US allow additives that Europe says are unsafe?

#39

Post by maxxxxx »

weberc2 wrote: post #10

If the FDA is broken, I wonder if some private entity couldn't audit brands and/or grocery chains and publicize a consumer health rating. "But private auditing can't work because for-profit incentives!" Well, there are plenty of cases in which for-profit auditing works just fine and TFA is dunking on the FDA for being a broken public regulator, so...

The ratings agencies should be a warning here. Whatever you do you need to make sure some rules are set and followed. Otherwise money slowly will erode trustworthiness. And there is a lot of money in pushing out bad products.

Re: Banned bread: why does the US allow additives that Europe says are unsafe?

#40

Post by csixty4 »

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #12

I've always been fascinated by how disgusting the bread is in the US. Do we know what lead to this ?

You might be interested in the book "White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf" by Aaron Bobrow-Strain

A lot stems from the late 18th century concern that filthy immigrants were making unhealthy food in local bakeries. It was better -- so they said -- to eat mass-produced breads baked into identical loaves with small, evenly distributed air holes by clean machines and in a pure, clean white color to make it clear there weren't any bugs or other impurities.

From there it was a process of mass industrialization and tweaking the ingredients to minimize costs and optimize baking times.

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