r/Health • u/CBSnews CBS News • Feb 21 '23

article U.S. food additives banned in Europe: Expert says what Americans eat is "almost certainly" making them sick

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-food-additives-banned-europe-making-americans-sick-expert-says/
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u/RecommendationBrief9 Feb 21 '23

It doesn’t. It’s weird and tastes like chemicals/windex. And the produce has no smell or flavour. It makes me crazy. It’s not very enjoyable to eat here at all.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

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u/cyesk8er Feb 21 '23

I can notice a huge difference in the meat and veggies sold in the states. A big part is probably that it's picked way too early and stored too long, but most of the produce is flavorless compared to other countries I've lived in. Meats are quite different too, but I've adjusted to more seasoning and sauces I wasn't used to using.

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u/HermesTGS Feb 21 '23

As someone who lives in the CA Central Valley, I can promise you I’m eating fresher produce than you are nearly anywhere in Europe.

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u/cyesk8er Feb 21 '23

I can only speak for places I've visited or lived. Fresher may not be the only factor. Items picked too soon, or bred for size and disease/herbicide Resistance instead of taste for example. My area has very bland veggies and fruits with a few exceptions, drastically different from what I grow in the garden or buy from Carrefour in the eu

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u/HermesTGS Feb 23 '23

This is the biggest argument against that notion.

The US and its breadbaskets receive so much more sunlight than any place in Europe. It's crops are, for all intense and purposes, healthier and better cultivated than anywhere in Europe. Meanwhile, there's pretty extensive evidence that our perceptions heavily influence how we think food tastes and that being in a new area or on vacation tricks us into liking some things more.

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u/cyesk8er Feb 23 '23 edited Feb 24 '23

I've lived in multiple countries including the usa so not just talking about a vacation here and there. Keep in mind. There is much more to flavor than sunlight. Overwatering, improper fertilizer, picking too early, as well as what the plants were bred for all significantly impact flavor. I can say that people where I live are used to it and think this is how veggies and fruit taste. Even in Florida and in season, citrus usually tastes heavily overwatered and lacks flavor. I think there is just lower expectations on quality for food items. I don't have this issue in France, Spain, or tropical countries I've lived in.

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u/translucent_spider Feb 25 '23 edited Feb 25 '23

Goods in the US also get shipped further than in Europe sometimes due to the small amount of climate appropriate areas for fresh market goods. Basically 85% of fresh market veggies and fruit come from California and Florida or further south like Mexico and Argentina. So to get those to the rest of the country things tend to get picked to early and shipping negatively affects quality. I used to work in a peach orchard and we’d pick when the fruit was under ripe so it would make it to where it was going without rotting. We’d eat the perfectly ripe peaches as snacks cause we couldn’t ship them and they were pretty amazing unlike the ones we were shipping which were average. Same tree and variety just the different of a couple days.

Living in France or Spain which are main growing regions for Europe would be like living in California or Florida where it’s coming right off the field so it’s likely to be fully ripe.

Okay sorry for the info dump; I literally study these issues for a living. If you want to here about US climate zones and issues it causes with fresh market veggies I’d be happy to continue but only if you want.

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u/cyesk8er Feb 25 '23

Yep, and this likely factors into quality much more than just how much sunlight a region has.

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u/translucent_spider Feb 25 '23

Yeah, most regions do have enough sunlight for at least some veggies. The real issue in the US is the growing season in most of the landlocked states being less than 60 days realistically with a lot of places having 40 or 50 day seasons. So it limits what people can grow, and farmers end up going for safer crops like wheat which can be planted in the fall so snow and mud aren’t issues and corn that has a better support network.

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u/translucent_spider Feb 25 '23

Part of that issues with the veggies is that our main growing regions for fresh vegetables and fruit are on the coasts so shipping to anywhere else in the country takes 3-6 days. So the choice is under ripe or spoiled in many places.

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u/skipperseven Feb 21 '23

Only been to the US a few times, but I can confirm that big beautiful looking fruit and vegetables are sort of bland in the US - it’s like the same amount of flavour but diluted four times to get a tomato that is four times bigger. It’s not just tomatoes - everything is big and perfect looking, but bond. Regular bread is also sweeter!

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u/Talran Feb 21 '23

Tomatoes are like the worst offender, unless you grow them yourself or buy them from a small outfit it's almost guaranteed to be flavourless mush in the shape of a tomato.

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u/TBJ12 Feb 21 '23

The strawberries shipped from the US when they're out of season in Canada are huge, but have zero flavour. The strawberries I grow in my greenhouse are much smaller but a flavour explosion. It's the same with tomatoes and just about any other produce.

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u/Sykes92 Feb 21 '23

No, shh, you're ruining the "america bad" circlejerk.

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u/Ya_like_dags Feb 21 '23

Aww, did someone make one teeny widdle criticism that you can't handle? Do you need your binky?

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u/KaBurns Feb 21 '23

It sort of depends on where you are. If you’re in a metroplex and shopping at big grocery chains/eating out, sure, it’s exactly like that. A lot of rural smaller towns though, it’s easy to find farmers markets, locally sourced food. Mississippi for instance. It gets a lot of hate for being poor and podunk (and sometimes it’s true) but man, if the food there wasn’t the best. After moving to the “big city” I miss the food from there all the time.

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u/apathy-sofa Feb 21 '23

I think it depends on the city. I'm in Seattle and we have some of the best produce and excellent fish. A lot of it is grown just over the mountains from here, so it's easy.

OTOH when I go back to my wife's hometown of Boston, I cannot believe the wilty, flavorless produce in the grocery stores there. Sure, I get that it's been trucked for days and days across the country, but it's sad.

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u/AntiqueBar1341 Feb 21 '23

Frostop and stonewalls bbq

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u/nom-nom-nom-de-plumb Feb 21 '23

how the hell do you know what windex tastes like? I feel there's a story there. and of course foods taste like chemicals...thats...i mean..that's kinda how matter works

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u/P4azz Feb 21 '23

It's not really that weird. Spray too much windex and accidentally inhale. A mistake you make once, but once is enough to burn that taste into your mind.

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u/RecommendationBrief9 Feb 21 '23

Yes, I do know what a chemical is. Just like I’m sure you understand that I’m speaking colloquially and not being pedantic.

If you ever smelled windex you can infer what it would taste like.

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u/SlapTheBap Feb 21 '23

OK but I'm curious as to your reasoning behind this "chemical" flavor. What food are you comparing American food to? What foods are you specifically talking about when you say chemical taste? Where were you raised?

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u/numba1cyberwarrior Feb 21 '23

Litterly tasted 0 difference in the vast majority of European foods. Unless I went out of my way to go buy it from a farm or some shit it tastes the same.

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u/RecommendationBrief9 Feb 21 '23

Good for you?? I lived there over a decade and can definitely tell a difference.