Pretty wild how far the US is behind in banning these sort of things compared to other countries.
> The way that FD&C Red No. 3 causes cancer in male rats does not occur in humans. Relevant exposure levels to FD&C Red No. 3 for humans are typically much lower than those that cause the effects shown in male rats. Studies in other animals and in humans did not show these effects; claims that the use of FD&C Red No. 3 in food and in ingested drugs puts people at risk are not supported by the available scientific information.
if "these sort of things" aren't actually harmful, and what we see in Europe is mostly governments reacting to unscientific panic among their citizens, then I'd say it's other countries that are wild, not the United States.
I mean, that's just not true. Fruit Loops are sold in Europe as well (albeit with slightly different colors), and there's no hoof or plant that produces anything that looks like Fruit Loops. Food coloring is a worldwide phenomenon.
Same for the fruit loops in the US.
Official US Nutrition Label Information Froot Loops for Schools S NLI_13580_01-02-2018_Public Kellogg Company - Proprietary Flavor Descriptor NLI Description Brand Serving Size Serving Size g Serving Size oz Calories Calories from Fat Total Fat 1 g 2 % % Saturated Fat 0.5 g 3 % % Trans Fat 0 g Polyunsaturated Fat Monounsaturated Fat Cholesterol 0 mg 0 % % Sodium 160 mg 7 % % Calories 389 Vitamin D 143 IU Potassium % % Calories from fat 36 Vitamin E 0 IU Total Carbohydrate 24 g 8 % % Total Fat 4.1 g Vitamin K NA mcg Dietary Fiber 2 g 7 % % Saturated Fat 1.9 g Thiamin 1.34 mg Soluble Fiber Polyunsaturated Fat 1.3 g Riboflavin 1.52 mg Insolube Fiber Monounsaturated Fat 0.7 g Niacin 17.9 mg Sugars 8 g Trans Fat 0.0 g Vitamin B6 1.79 mg Sugar Alcohol Cholesterol 0 mg Folic Acid 357 mcg Other Carbohydrate Sodium 571 mg Vitamin B12 5.4 mcg Protein 2 g % % Potassium 171 mg Biotin NA mcg Vitamin A 10 % % Total Carbohydrate 86.6 g Pantothenic Acid NA mg Vitamin C 25 % % Dietary Fiber 6.2 g Phosphorus 83 mg Calcium 0 % % Soluble Fiber 1.4 g Iodine NA mcg Iron 25 % % Insoluble Fiber 4.9 g Magnesium 40 mg Vitamin D 10 % % Sugars 28.4 g Zinc 5.4 mg Vitamin E % % Sugar Alcohols NA g Selenium NA mcg Vitamin K % % 2,000 2,500 Protein 6.4 g Copper NA mg Thiamin 25 % % Total Fat 65g 80g Vitamin A 1786 IU Manganese NA mg Riboflavin 25 % % Sat. Fat 20g 25g Vitamin C 54 mg Chromium NA mcg Niacin 25 % % Cholesterol 300mg 300mg Calcium 13.3 mg Molybdenum NA mcg Vitamin B6 25 % % Sodium 2,400mg 2,400mg Iron 16.1 mg Moisture 2.5 % Folic Acid 25 % % Potassium 3,500mg 3,500mg Ash 0.4 % Vitamin B12 25 % % Total Carbohydrate 300g 375g Biotin % % Dietary Fiber 25g 30g Pantothenic Acid % % Protein 50g 65g 00038000787881 96 Phosphorus % % 00038000926334 1 Iodine % % Magnesium % % 00038000787928 Zinc 10 % % Selenium % % Copper % % Manganese % % Chromium % % Molybdenum % % NA = values do not exist or are incomplete. INGREDIENTS: CORN FLOUR BLEND (WHOLE GRAIN YELLOW CORN FLOUR, DEGERMINATED YELLOW CORN FLOUR), SUGAR, WHEAT FLOUR, WHOLE GRAIN OAT FLOUR, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF OAT FIBER, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT, SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED), SALT, SOLUBLE CORN FIBER, NATURAL FLAVOR, RED 40, TURMERIC EXTRACT COLOR, BLUE 1, YELLOW 6, ANNATTO EXTRACT COLOR
>are you just being obtuse about the artificial colors?
No, just being evidence-based. There's no particular harm known to come from Red 40. It's popularly associated with cancer, similar to how homeopathy is popularly associated with cures. There's no significant evidence of any harm to be concerned about.
Maybe if the dye served ANY purpose besides getting people to eat more of it, I could find a bit of care to not remove it from foods.
Your comment violates the following hacker news guideline:
> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.
See https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html for the full set.
Is it really a competition to see who can ban the most things? What's the prize if you win?
Things like Veggie Libel Laws are very much against the public interest but farm owners have managed to somehow be both rich and adored by the populace so here we are
Even a McDonald's hamburger is good, and not dominated by the fake chemical garlic substitute. In the US, McDonald's french fries contain: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.
In Italy, the ingredients are: Potato, Oil, Salt.
Let's not forget that Europe had massive epidemic of horse meat being snuck into the supply chain with no one catching on.
* The beef flavor is mimicking frying in beef tallow. If you use Marmite in your brown gravy you're using the same trick.
* Americans, being flushed with corn and corn syrup which is sweeter than granulated sugar, developed a sweeter tooth than other places which is why the dextrose.
* Potatoes once cut and exposed to air get that gross dark color. Most home cooks usually solve that by keeping them submerged in water until frying but Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate works the same.
https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/product-requirements/f...
Unless you can put it under "natural and artificial flavors and colors" which covers all the things you should actually care about.
The FDA also bans more food dyes than the EU.
Feel free to regail someone who cares about the food regulations of the world.
The FDA factoid is cool -- they just didn't ban the dye that causes cancer.
Have you been to a farmer's market in the US? Potatoes are potatoes. In fact, potatoes are native to this continent and we have more potato cultivars to choose from. You can get very high quality meat there.
Saying all US food is lower quality is kind of a wild opinion.
You're the one that responded to my comment about comparing the US to the rest of the world by saying I needed to compare it to the EU. I didn't hop into your comment chain with random factoids.
> I'm not personally acquainted with every nation's food regulatory regime.
Didn't stop you from providing uninformed commentary tho.
My experience in Italy with foods that normally cause some issues (dairy/cheese) really opened my eyes to that. My sister who doesn’t eat cheese/dairy at all here in the US was able to eat it there without issue because of how they process dairy over there or something.
For example, the US has much stricter standards for preventing bacterial contamination than Europe, outside of the Nordics which share similar food safety regulations as the US. The US prohibits a lot of food importation from Europe because of lower food safety standards related to contamination.
Europe makes a lot of food safety exceptions on the basis of a process being "traditional" in some sense, nominally preserving culture. The US is a bit more technocratic less prone to the naturalistic fallacy; the FDA doesn't care that something is cultural or traditional, if there is scientific evidence of material risk then it will be banned.
If I had to summarize their food safety perspectives, the EU tends to focus more on allowable ingredients, the US tends to focus more on the uncontaminated and sterile handling of the food supply chain.
Dairy products in the US tend to contain more lactose, and French/Italian dairy products have less due to the prevalence of aged cheeses and fermentation.
There are many other differences, and none of these seem related to some sort of mystery-makes-you-shit-yourself additive.
<selfpromotion>We sell uncolored raw milk cheddar cheese made with A2 milk, if someone has an issue with cheese in the US give ours a try!</selfpromotion>
[1] https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/food-colours
[2] https://www.fda.gov/food/color-additives-information-consume...
Quinoline Yellow (E 104), Sunset Yellow FCF/Orange Yellow S (E 110), Azorubine/Carmoisine (E 122), Amaranth (E 123), Ponceau 4R/Cochineal Red A (E 124), Erythrosine/Red No. 3 (E 127), Allura Red AC (E 129), Patent Blue V (E 131), Indigotine/Indigo carmine (E 132), Brilliant Blue FCF (E 133), Green S (E 142), Brilliant Black PN (E 151), Brown HT (E 155), Litholrubine BK (E 180)
Some of these names may be confusing since their names imply they're natural when in fact they are synthetic (e.g. Amaranth, Cochineal Red A, Indigo carmine).
Lost in the woods, are you?
https://www.tilleydistribution.com/insights/food-regulations...
https://eatwell.uky.edu/sites/default/files/2024-08/foods-us...
I can understand waiting until there's sufficient evidence before starting that process.