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Comment by chrisseaton | Hacker News Reader

And of course some foods are banned in the US but not Europe.

Do you have any examples? (Genuinely interested)

Haggis, is one example. They don't like the sheep lung used in it, apparently.

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.

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.

Kinder Eggs..

Kinder Eggs aren't banned in the US, Kinder Surprise is. Even Costco sells Kinder Eggs.

The ones with the toys in then are in my understanding.

These are not the same product as is sold in Europe.

Actually you can find the new style in Europe now too. They're moving away from the in-egg version everywhere.

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.

They’re not the genuine article. If I recall and the toys either on the outside or the egg isn’t completely encompassing it.

I bought one the other day. It turns out the US kinder egg is nothing like the EU one. The EU one is a chocolate shell containing a plastic package with a toy in it. the US one is two halves, one with a toy, and the other containing a (white-chocoate?) fondant with 2 hazelnut-chocolate balls in it. It was pretty bad and I threw it out after trying it.

There are two types of Kinder Eggs: Kinder Surprise[1] and Kinder Joy[2]. Kinder Surprise is banned in the US because it contains "non-nutritive objects" inside the egg. Kinder Joy packs the toy separately and has been sold in the US since 2017.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Surprise [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Joy

The person I responded to said "Kinder Eggs." Which they do in fact sell in the US, and this distinction doesn't change that.

If they had wished to say Kinder Surprise, they could and should have done so.

My apologies, where I come from, the UK, Kinder Egg is colloquially used in place of Kinder Surprise. It wasn't until a week ago, after decades of only knowing one type of Kinder Egg, that I came across Kinder Joy. I've just seen on the Kinder Surprise Wikipedia page.. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Surprise the very first line "Kinder Surprise, also known as Kinder Egg"

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.

> For now, these are the states that allow the sale of raw milk at retail stores: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah, and Vermont

https://www.epicurious.com/archive/blogs/editor/2014/04/wher...

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.

Mustard oil.

That's not completely true. While it is banned for consumption, Indian cooking and more recently, American cooking, has begun using mustard oil[1].

Edit: the linked article mentions that research into the health risks of mustard oil has not been conclusive.

[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/dining/american-chefs-dis...

> That's not completely true. While it is banned for consumption, Indian cooking and more recently, American cooking, has begun using mustard oil

How is it untrue? The chefs in that article are (technically illegally) using massage oil with a required "for external use only" warning label, because that is "the only use for which it is legally approved in the United States."

Washed eggs (required in the US) vs unwashed eggs (required in Europe)

Interesting, never knew there was a difference. Just looked it up: in EU chickens are vaccinated against salmonella and the US not. But cleaning them does make the eggs vulnerable due to removing the outer protective layer. Hence they need to be refrigerated. Still strange though every fridge I know comes with a egg basket though nobody I know in the Netherlands puts their eggs in the fridge.

Netherlands may not be hot enough but in Cyprus for example we store our eggs in the fridge or they go bad much sooner.

Horse meat, anything deemed unsanitary like haggis (edit: think like scottish-made haggis, meaning containing "unsanitary parts" like lung), unpasteurized milk (though some states override this). I think banana tree oil and sassafras oil are allowed in EU as well but are banned in US due to links to cancer.

Beluga caviar

In the US, unwashed eggs aren't allowed. In the EU, it's the other way around; eggs must be unwashed.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2012/10/25/why-am...

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-europeans-dont-refrigera...

Super interesting, did not know this and looked it up (I'm a Swede). Washing eggs is NOT illegal in the EU (at least in Sweden) if your washing them at a certified plant. Washing them the wrong way can spread bacteria through the shell of the egg. So a farmer without the certified plant is not allowed to wash the eggs. Washed eggs are marked as washed to the consumer and all eggs I've ever bought in stores here have been washed.

Sodium cyclamate - used as an artificial sweeter in the EU but banned in the US (and other countries).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_cyclamate

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