# Is this what America has come to? \[stupid warning labels\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 6, 2023, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718 "2023-11-06T22:07:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/41 "2023-11-07T02:59:02Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > Do you really not understand? Am I not entitled to disagree with the majority? ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/42 "2023-11-07T03:00:59Z")
I’m not taking to you. Feel free to disagree with whoever. I don’t understand how you’re being oppressed or whatever, you do you. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/43 "2023-11-07T03:05:31Z")
I was kidding if you meant me. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/44 "2023-11-07T03:14:07Z")
I sometimes buy apple juice that lists the ingredients as follows: “apple juice”. I don’t find this problematic at all, and in fact reassuring. It means it’s not synthetic and is actually the juice of apples, and doesn’t contain sugar or preservatives. Many other juices from the same brand contain added sugar and various other ingredients. Full disclosure of ingredients in food products is genuinely important. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > The harm is that by putting warnings on everything, people will ignore useful ones. These typically are not warnings, they’re ingredients lists. When they’re labelled as warnings, it’s because it refers to substances that can cause severe allergic reactions in some people. It’s unfortunate and annoying that so many people have food allergies, but that’s the reality. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Every damn thing has a Proposition 65 warning in California. People ignore it because it’s impossible to avoid things with the warning, and because they learn over time that the warning is applied to things that are completely safe. But some of these things _aren’t_ safe, and in that case the fact that we’ve been trained otherwise is harmful. Boy Who Cried Wolf and all that. Now this I completely agree with. I don’t live in California yet I see these Prop 65 warnings all over the place, and most of them are laughable. Bill Maher mentioned on a recent show that after three years of bureaucracy to get the permits to install a solar system, when he finally got a garden shed approved to house the batteries for the system, the shed came with a warning that it was known to the State of California to cause cancer. Specifically, the high risk factor was due to the fact that the shed was made of … wait for it … wood! And thus might contain sawdust. Which you might inhale, and which might kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/45 "2023-11-07T03:37:30Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > These typically are not warnings, they’re ingredients lists. Ingredient lists I have no problem with. In fact I think there’s a great deal of value from having standardized ingredient lists and other nutritional information, even when it just says “INGREDIENTS: PEANUTS” or the like. And really, I’m not _that_ het up with the “contains” stuff. While this _is_ ridiculous… [![](https://i.imgur.com/WOnluTq.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/WOnluTq.png) …ultimately I’m not too concerned as long as companies don’t have an incentive to slap the verbiage on the box if their plant is built downwind of a sushi house. And frankly, I wouldn’t complain at all if the text were slightly different, like “POTENTIAL ALLERGENS: TUNA” (yes, I realize this is a silly nitpick). The “MAY CONTAIN” nonsense is much more likely to go down the road of cover-your-ass extremes to the point of being useless. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/46 "2023-11-07T04:10:41Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > The odd things that _may_ contain nuts is on you to research. As the consumer it is a pain. It is a nearly impossible to find a nut-free frozen desert even though some subset are probably safe. As a producer it is also a pain. Production runs move between lines and facilities, ingredients are changing last-minute, and all of the labels are pre-printed. I have a few friends in the industry. One of them was telling us during the supply chain crunch that they had one or more substitutions every day. In the morning supply chain would say “We didn’t get X delivered, can you use something else?” They would adjust the recipe while making sure the bake would turn out, taste good, and match the label. It is less about CYA then it is the challenges of mass production. Happy birthday BTW! ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/47 "2023-11-07T04:18:43Z")
[These](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8b1121_e4cb76553c1645979bec0c39b4792a2f~mv2.png) are my favorite eggs. . The ingredients list is: Sugar, **MILK** , glucose syrup, cocoa butter, invert sugar syrup, whey powder (from **MILK** ), cocoa mass, vegetable fats (palm, shea), emulsifier (E442), dried **EGG** white, flavourings, colour (paprika extract). (sic - not sure why MILK & EGG are capitalized & bold) I also don’t know if people with egg allergies have issue with dried **EGG** white or since they don’t contain yolks the majority of allergic people won’t have any issue. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/48 "2023-11-07T04:20:18Z")
Cause there’s more of that in the product. Read that somewhere. Are those candies really that good? Everyone loves them. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/49 "2023-11-07T04:33:51Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > No - you DO NOT want any part of the witty repartee that passes for conversation in our home! Actually, I think would enjoy that. I once made my wife dissolve into a quivering mass of self-wetting flesh when I extrapolated how the inefficiencies of ‘El Macino’ (the automatic tortilla maker, that would dump about a sixth of the product on the floor) could not have possibly brought down the demise of … Fuck… What was that place? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/50 "2023-11-07T04:36:49Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Everyone loves them. And Happy Burthday to You! Evrybody lurves yu, too! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/51 "2023-11-07T04:43:33Z")
Oh, Mister Fish-face you are a nice guy!! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/52 "2023-11-07T04:45:44Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Fuck… What was that place? Chevy’s Fresh Mex. **[el machino chevys - Google Image Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=el+machino+chevys&tbm=isch&oq=el+machino+chevys&sclient=img&hl=en)**. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/53 "2023-11-07T04:54:41Z")
That’s it! We stopped at the one near Dixon, California and I watched that thing waste more flour than a poorly funded porn shoot. But went full Business School on the wife explaining how the attraction more than paid for itself in waste. How much is flour and water? Maybe I was I was wrong. Bye the way, LSL, your posts are always Golden. And not in the Stream of Piss way. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/54 "2023-11-07T05:42:43Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > While this _is_ ridiculous… Well, I should have looked up the law first. Here is the relevant regulation: [https://www.fda.gov/food/food-allergensgluten-free-guidance-documents-regulatory-information/food-allergen-labeling-and-consumer-protection-act-2004-falcpa](https://www.fda.gov/food/food-allergensgluten-free-guidance-documents-regulatory-information/food-allergen-labeling-and-consumer-protection-act-2004-falcpa) And the specific labelling requirement: > (1) If it is not a raw agricultural commodity and it is, or it contains an ingredient that bears or contains, a major food allergen, unless either– > > (A) the word `Contains’, followed by the name of the food source from which the major food allergen is derived, is printed immediately after or is adjacent to the list of ingredients (in a type size no smaller than the type size used in the list of ingredients) required under subsections (g) and (i); or > (B) the common or usual name of the major food allergen in the list of ingredients required under subsections (g) and (i) is followed in parentheses by the name of the food source from which the major food allergen is derived, except that the name of the food source is not required when– > (i) the common or usual name of the ingredient uses the name of the food source from which the major food allergen is derived; or So there’s no need to say “CONTAINS TUNA” when the ingredient list already has “Light tuna”, since the ingredient, the food source, and the allergen all have the same name. It’s either incompetence or cover-your-ass behavior on the part of the manufacturer. Ok, not the fault of the regulators in this case. The law seems perfectly reasonable to me, not requiring extra notices in the obvious case where the ingredient list already lists the allergen directly (but without allowing the allergen to be hidden in some other ingredient). Though a course in Boolean logic is advisable. when reading the law ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/55 "2023-11-07T12:47:20Z")
Thanks for the kind words. A question if I may … > [@Gatopescado](#): > > and I watched that thing waste more flour than a poorly funded porn shoot. What does one use flour for during a porn shoot? I’ve seen some of those documentaries on the internet and I never noticed ~~much~~ any flour. As to Chevy’s … Yeah. _El Machino_ is (was?) dumb, the food is factory-mex mediocre, but at least Wiki tells me they’ve gone bankrupt and nearly died several times and are on their last legs again. The fact there are zero Chevy’s outlets in the historically Hispanic part of the USA tells you most of what you need to know. They started in, and are still concentrated in, the NorCal Bay Area. Which is just barely Hispanic-lite. Initially I hadn’t remembered their name but knew it was close to “Chili’s”, another pitiful example of factory-kinda-mex plus burgers. Chili’s is probably an evil corporation to its very core and so, unlike moribund Chevy’s, is thriving worldwide. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/56 "2023-11-07T16:24:29Z")
There are TWO SEASONS of a tv show called “[Is It Cake?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_It_Cake%3F)”. I can see why Americans are distrustful of what they see in a food package. Is it an egg or is it cake? Is potato. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/57 "2023-11-07T16:45:37Z")
America is generally a very light-touch country for regulations, including food regulations. Some examples here: (Jump to 2:56 if the time offset doesn’t work…there’s a very long intro for this video) [https://youtu.be/oNNllIBFbl4?si=YqK–LDMS5vVItoB&t=176](https://youtu.be/oNNllIBFbl4?si=YqK--LDMS5vVItoB&t=176) I know the OP is tongue-in-cheek but there is still some irony in saying that overzealous _regulations_ are what’s wrong with America. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/58 "2023-11-07T20:24:21Z")
Then again, you could have adequate warnings and someone reads those warnings, know the food product is dangerous to them and immediately say, [“What the hell.”](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-sues-panera-bread-over-possible-death-from-energy-drink-do-they-have-a-case/992226) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/59 "2023-11-07T20:51:37Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > There was that woman on some reality show that thought “Chicken of the Sea” was really chicken. My SO has also been confused regarding the same thing. Not to [her](https://www.wvxu.org/media/2018-08-19/chicken-or-fish-newlyweds-nick-jessica-premiered-in-2003) extent, more like: “Are you sure this is tuna? It says ‘chicken’!” This took place in the canned meat section of a grocery store, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718/60 "2023-11-07T21:31:21Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > I also don’t know if people with egg allergies have issue with dried **EGG** white or since they don’t contain yolks the majority of allergic people won’t have any issue. Most people with egg allergies are allergic to the whites. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-america-has-come-to-stupid-warning-labels/992718.md?page=4)