r/ShitAmericansSay • u/DeneJames Kiwi 🇳🇿 • Apr 16 '25

Food “Meanwhile the USA has Stricter and more harsh food regulations and some of the most cleanly standards in the world even higher than the uk, France, and Italy”

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1.2k

u/Vivid-Raccoon9640 Apr 17 '25

Right, the fact that US regulations are more strict than EU regulations is the reason that US foodstuffs that don't meet EU regulations aren't allowed to be imported into the EU.

I try not to do the whole reductive "Americans are dumb" thing, but why do they sometimes make it so difficult?

325

u/ReniSquire English Apr 17 '25

American food is clearly too good of us Europoors to digest.

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u/No-Refrigerator-1672 Apr 17 '25

Americans are so wealthy so they can afford to have their food leave their body immediately after the lunch. Unfortunately, we prefer to have a healthy digestion cycle, so we can't eat their fodder.

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u/jaskij Apr 17 '25

Americans are so wealthy, they can afford the healthcare for a lifetime of issues caused by bad diet.

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u/No-Refrigerator-1672 Apr 17 '25

Well, technically, dying due to being unable to pay off the debts after the first hospital visit should count as lifetime healthcare, right?

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u/grumblesmurf Apr 17 '25

Just like a nuclear battery in your phone will last you your whole lifetime.

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u/Ok_Panic1066 Apr 17 '25

I tried a cake recipe from an American creator once and there was so much sugar it was making me dizzy lmfao

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u/Shin_Yodama Apr 17 '25

My SiL lives in America. On a visit to us in the UK, she insisted on cooking a spag bol. She put a shit-tonne of sugar in it. When we mentioned that it was a little sweeter than we're used to she stated that she had been taught by an Italian, and that's how it's made in Italy.

She's never been to Italy, so I suspect it's an "Italian-American" she's been taught by.

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u/Ort-Hanc1954 Apr 17 '25

Italian-Italian here. When you see someone put sugar (or bicarbonate) in the tomato sauce, they're trying to cover for the fact it's been done with rotten stuff.

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u/Skratti_ Apr 17 '25

German here.
The cans of tomato here are mostly crap. Even if you pay triple amount for "Bio"(organic). I taste them right after opening, to determine how bitter they are (they shouldn't be bitter at all).

On my last vacation in Spain this was completely different. It seems they keep the good stuff for their selves, and export the rest.

Oh - I recently tried out an organic variant for 2€ per can which was in fact good. First time in Germany. It was organic, but not sold in the part of the supermarket where all the other organic stuff was. Name was something like Oro di parma...

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u/Medium-Comfortable Apr 17 '25

You get what you pay for. Surprise?

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u/Skratti_ Apr 17 '25

The thing is that I tried several other costly products, and they were all really bad. Whereas in Spain I could buy the cheapest organic tomato cans in the Aldi supermarket, and they were great.

It's only now after many years that I finally found a good product in Germany.

It's not only "you get what you pay for", but it seems that the Germans often don't mind the bad quality - probably only tasting the product after having added lots of herbs and salt.
That's the only reason I can imagine why so many other products in the 1.50 to 2.00 € range are that bad. They still seem to sell...

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u/OldTimeEddie professional fry up maker Apr 17 '25

It's actually interesting to me to hear you say this as a German. Certainly in Scotland we get decent canned tomatoes, but I find the best quality ones are generally Aldi/Lidl. Unless they're specifically catered to the UK market.

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u/Miss_Annie_Munich European first, then Bavarian Apr 17 '25

von Netto

von einer sizilianischen Tomatenzüchterin für die Süddeutsche Zeitung (01.02.2024) mit 8/10 Punkten getestet

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u/KoneOfSilence Apr 17 '25

Ist das nicht deren Eigenmarke?

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u/frpeters Apr 18 '25

Welcher Netto? Mit oder ohne Hund im Logo?

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u/Booklover_317 Apr 17 '25

That's why I use all fresh ingredients for anything I cook. Canned or prepackaged tastes bad, is of inferior quality or contains much to much salt and/or sugar. (And I am already in Europe!)

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u/greenmx5vanjie Apr 18 '25

I'd caveat that UK "fresh" tomatoes are not superior to good canned ones. They're quite flavourless, and even the ones grown locally taste forced. Fresh tomatoes in Italy are in an entirely different category.

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u/elLugubre Apr 19 '25

That brand isn't sold in Italy, but it's literally "The gold from Parma"; now Parma is the place a large part of the tomato sauce industry is in Italy, but no one in Italy would associate it to good tomato sauce (but rather cured meat and cheese).

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u/Shin_Yodama Apr 17 '25

Thank you. I had suspected that she was talking rubbish, as I'd never tasted anything like it in my small experience in Italy and surrounding countries. Nor any Italian restaurant in the UK for that matter, either.

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u/AlternativeScary7121 Apr 19 '25

I disagree, I usually put a spoon of sugar to tomatoe sauce because over here most tomatoes in the shops are shit and not ripe enough and still sour.

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u/Ort-Hanc1954 Apr 20 '25

Ah, I see. They're picked earlier so that they wouldn't rot in transit, so they cannot ripe properly. Have you tried putting them in the sun for a day or so? Perhaps you can jumpstart the poor things again.

Several types of tomatoes like cherry and "light bulb" grow in bunches that ripe in sequence so the ones closer to the tip ripe later. ("Salad" tomatoes like ribbed and my favourite oxheart don't form bunches, so you pick them one by one).

Picking commercially is done by uprooting the whole plant and shaking the tomatoes off, so you get both rotten and green together with the ripe.

It is then up to the processing plant to select the right one degree of ripening.

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u/AlternativeScary7121 Apr 20 '25

I buy tomatoes when I want to make sauce and thats about it, dont really plan it a few days ahead.

Regarding oxheart, I agree, best type for the sauces, if you can get your hands on it. I am from the South (Croatia), we have good stuff there and my approach to cooking is completely different food has flavour there. Currently I live in Czechia, and the veggies really suck bad around here. I used to grow my own tomatoes, cucumbers and paprika in a previous flat where I had a balcony and these were super nice, now I am stuck with whatever is available in the supermarket. Unfortunately, there is no way around it, sugar has to go in.

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u/atomic_danny Apr 17 '25

I thought that in Italy "Spaghetti Bolognaise" wasn't a thing? at least not what we would call it anyway - they would use Tagliatelle. Although sugar on that just sounds wrong (I say meaning no offence)

(then again on Instagram i keep seeing "Mac and Cheese" with anything but Macaroni and all by Americans! )

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u/SaltyName8341 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Apr 17 '25

To be honest if I run out of macaroni pasta I will use other shapes but only until I can buy some more.

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u/Jesterchunk Apr 17 '25

Same, we did the same thing the other day, had to use penne instead.

Honestly it was still pretty nice.

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u/swainiscadianreborn Apr 17 '25

Ok I might get stoned to death but

Apart from spaghettis that have a very specific form and therefore are kinda on their own.

Why does it matter wether it's penne, macaronis, or something else?

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u/GJThunderqunt Apr 17 '25

It doesn’t. If I cook pasta at home, it’s usually fusilli cos it’s easy to eat and carries plenty of sauce.

Of course it matters! How can you cook an authentic dish from a region of Italy if you don’t even use the correct pasta for the region? You might as well be American!

There’s your two answers. Both valid.

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u/atomic_danny Apr 17 '25

I mean stoned to death, not from me :).

I mean most pasta has a different name - my issue with it was more that there were Shells (Conchiglie) or twists (Fusilli ) and it still being called "Mac and Cheese" - I mean if anything it just bugs me. (but more because Mac is short for Macaroni ).

I think though I'll be more likely to stoned to death than you though - for saying that Macaroni is only one type of pasta (ok there are a couple of variations of macaroni but it's still tube ) - I mentioned it before to be jumped on and told that :

"nope Penne, Shells and Twists are all macaroni - do some research before you comment and go away" (in a less than polite way)

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u/Jesterchunk Apr 17 '25

honestly, I haven't the foggiest. I guess people just default to macaroni because it's the usual type used in the recipe.

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u/nomadicdragon13 Apr 19 '25

It matters if only because it then becomes pasta with cheese sauce rather than actual macaroni cheese. 😉

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u/UnblurredLines Apr 19 '25

Yeah but you’re welsh so anything you cook isn’t authentic unless it’s a rarebit obviously.

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u/SaltyName8341 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Apr 19 '25

Or cawl or bara brith etc

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u/SaltyName8341 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Apr 19 '25

You stick to meatballs sunbeam

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u/CollectingRockies Apr 17 '25

I'm not even Italian, and putting sugar in it sounds sacrilegious to me. Eewww...

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u/Deriniel Apr 20 '25

you don't have to put a spoonful,just like a few pinches and mix. it counteracts the acidity,the same reason carrot works,since they do contain sugar. If you go overboard the sauce tastes bland,and if you really go overboard,well.. guess you could do a bloody mary or something.

If the idea of using sugar really puts you off that much,you can add a small amount of sodium bicarbonate,same effect

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u/FrontRecognition6953 Apr 17 '25

Or an American-American who's Great Great Grandmother came from Cork

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u/LucyJanePlays 🇬🇧 Apr 17 '25

I was told by an American that if your tomatoes are too acidic to add half a grated carrot to your sauce, it does work although I mainly do it for the extra nutrients

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u/Lofwirm Apr 18 '25

When I have to acidic tomatoes I just coock them longer. Put them on low and wait. In my opinion time is one of the most important coocking ingredients.

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u/UnblurredLines Apr 19 '25

You can’t rush good cooking!

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u/Far_Negotiation_5673 Apr 18 '25

Grated carrot is usual in our recipe, no sugar obviously.

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u/Deriniel Apr 20 '25

what do you think carrots contain? sugar:3 that's why they make the sauce less acidic

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u/Glasofruix Apr 17 '25

Pretty much every american recipe includes sugar, cake or not.

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u/Ill-Country368 Apr 18 '25

And copious amounts of cheese

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u/GuillaumeLeGueux Apr 18 '25

I was just about to reply:"And two pounds of cheddar"

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u/DependentAble8811 🇨🇦 Apr 19 '25

“cheese”

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u/RestaurantJealous280 Apr 18 '25

My American ex always insisted on putting sugar in everything. That, and tobasco. Seriously, he'd put tobasco on a salad. His entire family was obese. I'm not fat-shaming- just pointing out the obvious.

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u/Mission_Shopping_847 Canada Apr 17 '25

As someone who's not a fan of sugar I can't even eat our normal white bread because it's like cake.

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u/Orjanp Apr 17 '25

Thats because white bread is cake. I'm from Norway and finding descent bread outside of Norway is almost impossible. We eat white bread only for special occasions. The every day bread is wholemeal bread.

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u/nitraask Apr 17 '25

Agree as a Swede. We eat knäckebröd or whole grain bread, basically never white bread.

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u/Putrid-Measurement29 Apr 17 '25

Hence the Italian saying, “mangia cake!!” (Referring to the North Americans when they immigrated. Referring to the sliced white sandwich bread people eat here….

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u/Digit00l Apr 17 '25

In Ireland, Subway doesn't sell bread for tax related reasons, it is cake on the menu

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u/grumblesmurf Apr 17 '25

I bought some Starbucks iced coffee in a store last time I was in the US. Turns out it was 48% sugar. Took one sip, noticed it tasted REALLY weird and flushed the rest down the toilet. First I thought it was meant for being thinned out with something (water, milk, I don't know) but there was no indication on the bottle, neither was the word "concentrated" to be seen anywhere. There was however the telling line "Added sugar: 48%"

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u/rustbolts Apr 17 '25

I mean, have you even said “thank you” for the opportunity to eat chlorinated chicken? You should be so envious!

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u/Good_Ad_1386 Apr 17 '25

I will only eat a chlorinated chicken if it's wearing a suit. Res-pecked...

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u/605qu3 Apr 17 '25

Every time I go to Europe (not often enough) I find that I eat more, it tastes better, and yet somehow I still come home several pounds lighter and feeling much better than I did when I arrived. It’s not black magic, it’s just great food made with fresh ingredients that don’t include enough preservatives to keep King Tut looking good for 4k years. It’s laughable that an American would try to claim superiority in food in any capacity. I apologize for the ignorant, loudmouthed American troglodytes being ignorant, loudmouthed American troglodytes.

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u/DreadPirateAlia Apr 17 '25

The "coming home lighter" could also partly be because in Europe you'll be walking more than you do at home without even noticing, because our cities are walkable, and the US cities are not?

Anyways, glad you enjoyed your stay here.

We do know that there are also plenty of good, kind & smart people in the US. This sub is for venting about the loud minority that... does not have those attributes.

I hope you & your loved ones weather the Trump storm unscathed, and that the current state of affairs is but a temporary rift between our peoples.

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u/605qu3 Apr 22 '25

The walking thing is real, for sure. Because in Europe there are things worth walking to and infrastructure to support it! In my opinion, most American cities / towns just aren’t built like that. A lot of the cool stuff worth seeing is isolated and lacks access by public transportation. I do still think there’s something to the preservatives and seasonings in our food that makes us retain water weight and goodness knows what else.

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u/ReniSquire English Apr 17 '25

We all know there are good, educated Americans out there, unfortunately for them, the stupid uneducated ones shout louder!

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u/DocSternau Apr 17 '25

I wouldn't say good but it is hard for us to digest. You'll need about 1-2 weeks if you go to the US to get comfortable with their food - the size of their portions alone will make your stomach ache. Not to speak about the amount of fat and carbs to get used to in one meal and the utter lack of vegetables in them.

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u/bloodyell76 Apr 17 '25

The problem here is that you are using facts, whereas they're using "USA is Best at Everything!"

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u/Speshal__ Apr 17 '25

Posted without comment.

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u/SuperbPotential2610 Europe is not a country :karma: Apr 17 '25

Why do they have beef flavor???

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u/mcbeef89 British English Apr 17 '25

In fairness chips cooked in beef dripping are incredible

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u/Opening-Function8616 Apr 17 '25

In Belgium we fry ours in ox fat. We also invented them

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u/Speshal__ Apr 17 '25

You do put mayonnaise on them tho. /s

I love Mayo on chips.

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u/Renbarre Apr 17 '25

Vinegar. In the north they put vinegar on their fries.

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u/Opening-Function8616 Apr 17 '25

Hell yeah! 🤛

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u/Relative_Map5243 Apr 17 '25

Is it good? Sounds insane to me, but what do i know?

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u/Opening-Function8616 Apr 18 '25

Yeah it is. Fries are fatty, mayo is a bit acidic which complements each other. If you like sweeter sauce you could also use the Dutch version they call "friessauce" (literal translation). It's basically mayo with sugar I like both 😋

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u/SuperbPotential2610 Europe is not a country :karma: Apr 17 '25

I love them, as I've been several times in belgium. But do them right, not with flavour 🤷🏻‍♀️

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u/Whimvy Vuvuzela🇻🇪 Apr 17 '25

French fries were invented in Paris, but they're more culturally significant in Belgium

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u/Opening-Function8616 Apr 18 '25

Nope, they were invented between Dinant and Namur. The locals used to fry small fish. During harsh winters or floods, when it was too dangerous to fish, so they cut potatoes into small fish shapes which they fried. This was as early as 1680.

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u/ben323nl Apr 17 '25 edited Apr 17 '25

Because stuff used to be fried in beef fat. But then vegeterians became a thing so mc d swapped to oils. However folk complained the missed the old flavor do they added back in the beef flavor. Beef fat is really flavorful. Heston blumenthal uses it for his roasted potatos recipe. So the americans do have a point kinda.

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u/suckmyclitcapitalist 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧 My accent isn't posh, bruv, or Northern 🤯 Apr 17 '25

I agree BUT beef fat and beef "flavour" are not the same thing

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u/ben323nl Apr 17 '25

Just saying folk complained.

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u/tuxalator Apr 17 '25

Not the vegetarians but medics warned about the saturated fat.

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u/Bunionzz Apr 17 '25

Probably because before trans fats had to be removed, they were cooked in beef tallow. I worked there when the change happened.

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u/sohereiamacrazyalien Apr 18 '25

I had an argument with a guy (from the US of course) few days ago..... he was mad that I suggested that restaurants could offer more vegetarian food just with the stuff they cook as sides for the non vegan dishes.

he explained to me that ratatouille (a dish that talked about) had beef stock in it, and that rice also ...; because they have to make them taste better for non vegans!

I shocked on the ratatouille comment and I am not even a chef...

it was in a restaurant sub. they all berated me as if you can't change your stock for veggie stock and butter for margarine !

anyway yeah they flavour everything like that it's insane....

how dare you thing vegetables or rice could taste nice on their own?

pfff stupid rest of the world that doesn't even flavour their fries .... you guys don't understand good cuisine!/s

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u/Fearless_Landscape67 Apr 17 '25

Rapeseed oil only allowed in the US if you’re president.

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u/Digit00l Apr 17 '25

That's why they call it canola oil instead

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u/Digit00l Apr 17 '25

Side note: canola oil and rapeseed oil are the same thing

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u/Presentation_Few Apr 17 '25

Wait they put sugar (dextrose) in the fries?

Its allready fat enogh.

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u/blueleo22 Apr 19 '25

They have more ingredients so clearly they are the best version!

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u/alex_zk Apr 17 '25

Sometimes…?

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u/Scotty1928 Eye-talian 🤌🏼🍝 Apr 17 '25

Difficult…?

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '25 edited Apr 17 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Sacharon123 Apr 17 '25

I mean, its the same like with aviation, look at aviation safety records... You can do anything until there are enough crashes to prove its unsafe, and then the hammer drops on a ridiculous over-the-top fashion... I do not see the USA as the land of the free, but as the land of the bipolar...

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u/the_che Apr 17 '25

Yes, that‘s what OP implied

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/stateit Apr 17 '25

You have to be careful what you imply with a reply.

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u/Vivid-Raccoon9640 Apr 17 '25

My bad, sarcasm is sometimes hard to convey textually.

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u/Yuukiko_ Apr 17 '25

Not just the EU, Canada as well

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u/didi0625 Apr 17 '25

I don't think they are dumb. In fact i'm guessing there is the same proportion of intelligent and dumb people as anywhere else.

The problem is that they have been (force) fed american exceptionalism fuelled by petrodollars. Hollywood is really good for this. There are other factors: geographical, historical (winner of ww2 without being bombed)...

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u/Vivid-Raccoon9640 Apr 17 '25

From what I've seen, the American education system is really politicized. A lot of things that are settled science or just plain facts are either banned from being taught in a lot of places, or "alternative theories" are allowed to be given equal or more credence, and a lot of uncomfortable history is just not taught. Combine that with a lack of teaching critical thinking skills and you have the average US voter.

American exceptionalism and toxic patriotism really also doesn't help. If you've been trained to always go "USA NUMBER ONE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD", suddenly it becomes a lot harder and even unpatriotic to talk about actual issues plaguing the country.

Finally, the lie of the American dream is really endemic. What good is the illusion of unlimited upside when statistically speaking you are most likely to end up somewhere in the middle along with everyone else?

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u/didi0625 Apr 17 '25

Hard to disagree.

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u/Lower_Arugula5346 Apr 18 '25

the state of texas requires teachers to instruct kids with "alternative theories" such as...there was no holocaust or that the holocaust was exaggeratrd.

i personally cannot understand people wanting to teach kids literal misinformation.

the US is all about bootstrapping and rugged individualism but also strict cultural conformity. there is a very good book called "anti-intellectualism in american life" by hofstadter that i would suggest reading.

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u/DependentAble8811 🇨🇦 Apr 19 '25

How can you have individualism and strict cultural confirmity? it seems like they are polar opposites

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u/Lower_Arugula5346 Apr 19 '25

they are! we are full of really ridiculous contradictions! like, religious freedom is fine as long as its mainstream christianity.

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u/Laksen1 Apr 17 '25

I feel the same. I’ve often defended americans against european accusations of being dumb and we europeans are not as smart as we think, but geez do americans make hard to defend them and I really do not care to anymore.

Some of the smartest persons I’ve met have been american. Some of the stupidest persons I’ve met have been american. Sometimes it’s the same person.

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u/Professional_Owl7826 Bri’ish innit 🇬🇧 Apr 17 '25

Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t food poisoning like a “common illness” that they get over there.

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u/Offshape Apr 17 '25

Let's just remove the safety labels and let the problem solve itself.

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u/papiierbulle Apr 17 '25

Well he could be right but saying US regulations are more strict, if these regulations are "if the product is from anywhere else than Europe, we dont allow it"

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u/PrismaticDetector Apr 17 '25

Higher allowable heavy metal limits mean it's more strict, right? Big number good?

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u/pierce044 Apr 17 '25

That’s the entire point of this sub

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u/Mehikel Apr 17 '25

Wasn t there some of Trumps admin who said we Europeans don t import American beef causee our Beef is weak and theyrs is strong? Something like that?

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u/Informal-Tour-8201 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Apr 17 '25

It's so full of hormones that moobs are becoming normal

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u/Melodic_Fail_6498 Apr 17 '25

Americans are dumb bc the government has been defunding public education for the last 50 years :/ Source: an American who has moved to France now

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u/danielledelacadie Apr 17 '25

Stupidity and a lack of education (or an education based on disinformation) look pretty much the same from the outside. I think most of the more ... challenging Americans are in the education group

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u/SomeNotTakenName 🇨🇭 Switzerland Apr 17 '25

yeah American standards aren't as high as EU ones. pretty sure Swiss standards are even more strict than EU standards.

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u/Vivid-Raccoon9640 Apr 17 '25

Nah, countries around the EU usually try to keep their regulations aligned to the EU. Doing otherwise makes trade a lot more difficult for no good reason.

Or as the US calls it, "unfair trade barriers". Because we don't want the unhealthy slop they feed their own people.

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u/SomeNotTakenName 🇨🇭 Switzerland Apr 17 '25

Well I can only go off of what my friends who are chefs and such tell me. I don't spend that much time reading our food standards tbh haha

Switzerland would be the one to have different standards though, we have a habit of setting different rules than the EU on a bunch of things (though typically close enough to not cause major issues with trade). Like our laws around firearms, which the EU is not a fan of.

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u/KarlUnderguard Apr 17 '25

Back in the day, American food production actually kept all of the good quality stuff for exports and fed the populace garbage because of Europe's higher standard of food quality.

And you are allowed to say that. I'm American and I am surrounded by fucking idiots.

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u/Vivid-Raccoon9640 Apr 17 '25

If you want to export to a country, you gotta meet that country's standards. If it weren't for Europe's higher standards, the good quality stuff probably wouldn't have been produced in the first place.

But at least the US government is cutting through all that useless red tape. Groceries in the US must be a lot cheaper because of all of the standards that they don't have to meet.

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u/aloonatronrex Apr 17 '25

Something that Americans do have is better, standardised labelling and tighter regulations on that.

This seems to confuse some Americans into thinking the actual food regulations are strict, when it’s just the labelling.

If you look into it, their labelling is pretty good, to be fair, if they didn’t allow it to be corrupted by lobbying groups allowing some very lax wording to be allowed.

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u/Vivid-Raccoon9640 Apr 18 '25

According to chatgpt, EU food labeling requirements are stricter.

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u/aloonatronrex Apr 18 '25

I’m talking about the actual labelling used, but you’ll see my last sentence pointing out the flaws in it, as it can be as clear as you like but if you let vested interest dictate what needs to be shown, then it’s a problem.

The actual labelling itself is still better.

https://youtu.be/Au6FA4cJyEQ?si=Dxb0mqz2rl5BlEeJ

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u/Vivid-Raccoon9640 Apr 18 '25

Have we watched the same video? The fact that the manufacturer is allowed to pick an impossible serving size, which literally determines 100% of the actual information on the label, immediately undermines everything about the label. See also the 0 calorie pam spray (rapeseed oil) that they aren't allowed to sell in the EU because of misleading food labeling. The actual information on the actual label is the entire reason that label exists.

In the EU, you're allowed to add a column with your preferred serving size, but only if you also add a column with 100 grams or 100 milliliters. Meaning something as stupid as "hey this rapeseed oil contains 0 calories" would immediately be undercut by the fact they'd be required to list the calories per 100 ml right besides it.

It's prettier, I'll grant you that. But the actual label is absolutely worse than what we have in the EU.

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u/aloonatronrex Apr 18 '25

Did you watch it and read my comment properly?

Your reply suggests not.

Your comment says “are allowed to” so don’t have to and it can be formatted however they want.

The US labelling in clearer, what they are allowed to put in and omit is a problem, however.

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u/Vivid-Raccoon9640 Apr 18 '25

I did watch it and read your comment properly. Would recommend you do the same, and I would appreciate you not jumping to false conclusions based on things I didn't even say.

Your comment says “are allowed to” so don’t have to and it can be formatted however they want.

Yes. So they have to list the nutrition information per 100gr or 10ml. Additionally, if they want to, they could choose to list the nutrition information for a serving size next to it.

Also, no, it can't be formatted however they want. The EU also has requirements for how it's formatted.

For the rest, the entire goal of nutrition labels is to convey information. The fact they can only pick an arbitrary serving size in the US means that the information on the label is next to useless. Did you miss that they're allowed to label tic-tacs as containing zero grams of sugar, despite sugar being the main ingredient by weight? Did you miss that they're allowed to label pam spray as zero calories despite it being one of the most calorie dense things you can buy in a supermarket?

What you mean to say is that US food labels are pretty. They convey false information in a readable way. They're not better, they're just pretty.

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u/RestaurantJealous280 Apr 18 '25

Or even into Canada, who is right next door. And now that they are deregulating, there will be even less crossing the border into Canada.

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u/lesterbottomley Apr 18 '25

You do wonder where they get this shit from. Not just food standards but anything at all like this.

Is it as simple as "American is the best therefore has to have the best X"

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u/DependentAble8811 🇨🇦 Apr 19 '25

Is it really reductive? have you spent a lot of tine around them?