Pre-packaged foods in America are banned in other countries

[olschoolsteel]

I read this and was reminded of a thread i read in one of the shaving threads where a member was afraid to use italian or turkish shave soap, or even older vintage shave soap in fear that an ingredient may be a carcinogen by todays current US standards. I try to buy and eat only natural and organic produce, even so far as raising my own beef and sheep. I am not a shut in and do treat myself to an occasional fast food gut bomb. But this article caught my attention so i thought i would post it up here for viewing and/or discussion.

http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/8...america-banned-other-countries-135100604.html

 

[maxman]

Interesting article.
I'm meh on the whole thing though.
I eat what I want and don't look back (mostly because I can't see around my pudgy middle. Har Har Har)

I do like going to our local farmers market, but as a family with one income and 2 kids (and one on the way) I often can't afford to pay 3x as much for natural foods.

 

[Kooze]

Thanks for posting this.

More than a little disturbing to learn of the things the FDA allows those of us living in the USA to consume, yet other countries ban or issue fines for selling.

 

[jlanger]

Gotta remember it goes both ways, there are things here that we ban that are allowed in other countries, irradiated food comes to mind.

 

[Kazeryu]

Since the US food laws are wacky enough to make Kinder Surprise illegal this doesn't surprise me either. But I suspect there are many foods banned in some places and not in others.

 

[Eeyore]

It goes both ways indeed. Regulations are different between the EU and the USA. You're not allowed to bring fresh fruits into the USA, for instance.

But as far as I know, the EU rules are a bit more strict in general, and more targeted at consumer protection.

 

[Mick]

If you have not seen food Inc (movie/documentary) check it out from your local library (most should have a copy, if not they can get it for you)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food,_Inc.

It will put your brain in a twist.

 

[i8ntskeered]

The chemicals and preservatives that are used in manufacturing processed foods go far beyond those listed in this "article" and would probably scare most people half to death. And don't get me started on genetically modified produce and animal feed. I admit I eat all of these things because, as Marc said, organic foods cost far more than the chemically treated/altered/produced foods found in our stores. It's documented fact the rampant spread of obesity and many of today's illnesses in American society are directly linked to our diets and eating habits. This is also driven by our cultures' need for fast, easy, and cheap.

I used quotations around the word article, by the way, because reading that piece made me feel like I was listening to a teen-age girl talk. Perhaps I was. No disrespect intended on any level, but it gets under my skin when I read an "article" from someone whom I assume is being paid to write that contains "sentences" like: "And gaaaaah."
Sorry, I guess the crotchety old man in me is rearing his head again. Maybe it's low blood sugar. I am pretty hungry. I think I'll go grab a frozen dinner...or a yoga mat for lunch.

 

[mrb7]

.. the US food laws are wacky enough to make Kinder Surprise illegal ...

Our tax money at work. I remember reading about this some months back. But we can run guns and drugs, ah, never mind,

 

[SiBurning]

 

[auk1124]

It's documented fact the rampant spread of obesity and many of today's illnesses in American society are directly linked to our diets and eating habits. This is also driven by our cultures' need for fast, easy, and cheap.

It may have been a cultural choice once upon a time, but sadly there are a great many Americans today who just can not afford to eat "healthy" food. The "organic" choices for fruits, meat and vegetables in my local grocery stores are very slim indeed, and there is simply no way the average family can spend 3-5 times more on groceries than they already are spending. Even the cheap junky stuff is expensive today.

I fear the rest of the world views us Americans as a bunch of lazy lard-asses who sit around stuffing ourselves with McDonald's hamburgers all day long, and Lord knows there is still plenty of that kind of behavior going on (I am looking in the mirror here), but I believe there are a great many moderate-income Americans who have no realistic choice except to eat processed garbage for every meal.

 

[i8ntskeered]

Sad but true, Auk1124

 

[Alacrity59]

Convince me that fast food costs less than healthy food.

 

[Jim]

Convince me that fast food costs less than healthy food.

This is a real good point, for example you can get a huge box of plain oatmeal for the cost of crap processed cereal filled with sugars and god knows what else. Frozen pizza vs homemade ect......

 

[Edcculus]

After reading both Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, my wife and I completely changed the way we eat. We were already half way there. Never ate fast food (ever, ever, ever) or drank soda anyways. Rarely bought things in crinkly packages from the middle aisles of the grocery store.

We don't eat organic food for sake of organic. Actually, pre packaged food with an organic label is a LOT more expensive than the non organic version. The key is to avoid pre packaged food all together. There are a still a lot of pre packaged processed foods that have the organic label. They are just as bad for you. Eat whole foods, that are in season, as local as you can get them. THATS where eating healthy gets to be really cheap. Another thing with modern culture (probably worldwide) is that we eat too much meat. A long time ago, meat was expensive. Families maybe had meat once a week if they were lucky. Thats why if you look at a lot of cultural food, meat is ground, stuffed or mixed with things in order to stretch it. Major holiday meals are centered around a big whole meat dish (a rarity). People complain that good grass fed beef, or farm raised chicken is too expensive. yes it is if you eat it every day. We cut our grocery bill almost in half by cutting meat down to once every 1 or 2 weeks.

The problem with this is that most of America has 1-lost the culture that most other countries have around food, and 2-lack a grocery store of any kind in a lot of poor urban areas. I heard a news story on NPR about a year ago about some poor urban areas of Chicago that soley rely on corner stores for all of their food. No grocery store or fresh food market in sight. Now that is a HUGE problem when a good portion of our population basically only has access to junky snack food.

I encourage anyone intrested to check out the 100 days of real food site. There are a lot of ideas, recipes and reasons to cut out processed food from your life and diet while still doing it on a budget.

 

[Arcadies]

Yet Vegemite/Marmite and Haggis are ok in other countries.

In all seriousness, the bigger issue at hand in America is that to eat healthy, you have to be fairly well off these days.
If you only have 100-200 bucks a month for groceries for a family of 3-5, and that is the case for many...you can get a lot more hotdogs, bologna and other processed crap than healthy fruits/veggies and good cuts of meat.

When it comes down to parents being able to feed their kids junk or let them starve...what do you think will happen?

 

[Jim]

Yet Vegemite/Marmite and Haggis are ok in other countries.

In all seriousness, the bigger issue at hand in America is that to eat healthy, you have to be fairly well off these days.
If you only have 100-200 bucks a month for groceries for a family of 3-5, and that is the case for many...you can get a lot more hotdogs, bologna and other processed crap than healthy fruits/veggies and good cuts of meat.

When it comes down to parents being able to feed their kids junk or let them starve...what do you think will happen?

I do not mean to be disagreeable- all the meats you mentioned are going to cost the same as lean ground beef or turkey which can be served with any number of produce and pasta.
Half the world lives on rice and beans, when saving for my first home we had rice and beans 3 times a week at a cost of less than a buck a meal.

I think the obstacle is effort vs choices. It takes time to cook and prep- going through the drive through is easy.

 

[Arcadies]

I do not mean to be disagreeable- all the meats you mentioned are going to cost the same as lean ground beef or turkey which can be served with any number of produce and pasta.
Half the world lives on rice and beans, when saving for my first home we had rice and beans 3 times a week at a cost of less than a buck a meal.

I think the obstacle is effort vs choices. It takes time to cook and prep- going through the drive through is easy.

Around here 1lb of hamburger is about $2.50-$3.00 depending on how much you buy. 1lb of "cheap" bologna or hotdogs are $1, 1lb of cheese is $2 and a loaf of bread is $1.25..so that is roughly 10 sandwiches/hotdogs for less than $5 and most kids will eat it happily. Yes rice and beans can be had cheaper and are more nutritious, although I was referring more to fresh fruits/veggies and healthy cuts of meat, not going bottom barrel...I honestly do not know many first world kids under 10-12 years that would eat rice and beans...perhaps that is another problem as well, spoiled children and spineless parents.

 

[ouch]

I think the obstacle is effort vs choices. It takes time to cook and prep- going through the drive through is easy.

This.

I'll add that many folks who claim food is too expensive won't bat an eye at supporting their $100/month Starbucks habit.

Every time a butcher takes a knife to a hunk of meat or poultry it adds to the price per pound. Buy whole birds and roasts and cut them yourself. Make stocks and sauces from the scraps. Use those expensive cuts sparingly to augment a veggie based diet. I made a gallon of pasta e fagioli (that's pasta fah-ZOOL for mid-America) for less than two bucks yesterday (bag of dried cannellini beans, spot of bacon, couple of potatoes and carrots, tablespoon of tomato paste, a few pennies worth of ditalini) that would go for seven bucks a bowl at a restaurant. That tiny little steak looks awfully small on a big, barren plate, but it looks big sliced in tacos. Sausage and inexpensive chicken go a long way in a paella. Mussels and calamari are as good as oysters and lobster. Can't afford porterhouse? Braise a roast.

You can eat good food on the cheap. Your enemy is laziness.

 

[SiBurning]

I should move. Things cost me more than double those prices, including the coffee break habit. I can make better coffee in the office (in some offices) but the important factor is the break out of the office.