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Can you provide where the FDA has said European formulas are perfectly adequate? A cursory search showed instances where European formulas were pulled because t

by bumby 5y ago

Can you provide where the FDA has said European formulas are perfectly adequate? A cursory search showed instances where European formulas were pulled because they were nutritionally deficient by FDA standards. Also keep in mind that while on its surface "nutritional labels" may seem like like superficial reason to ban something, it's the same rational for banning formula from China. Labeling is important for quality control and verification. ("Verification" defined in the quality engineering sense of "it is what it says it is".)

pdonis 5y ago
> Can you provide where the FDA has said European formulas are perfectly adequate? I didn't claim that the FDA said that. All I said was that the FDA's stated reason for prohibiting European formulas in the US has nothing to do with safety standards, only with labeling. The FDA, as far as I know, has not made any statement one way or the other about the safety standards themselves, but as the article notes, the European ones in this respect are at least as stringent as the FDA's.
- daenz 5y ago
  >only with labeling Not according to the OP's link though: >the FDA will not let you have it because it has not reviewed and approved the label or inspected the production facilities overseas. Emphasis mine.
- bumby 5y ago
  The point being made was that the labelling and content are not distinct issues. As an example, some banned European formulas do not contain the necessary nutrients and thus require a label denoting that additional nutrition is necessary.[1] Often, when people look at quality issues as purely non-essential "paperwork", they are missing the intent of the requirement. In this case, labelling something as "infant formula" connotates a precise nutritional meaning. Such oversight provides arbitrary rules-lawyering. [1] https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/able-groupe-recalling-products-labeled-infant-formula-formulas-have-insufficient-iron-levels https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety...
- DiogenesKynikos 5y ago
  Note that "only labeling" means, among other things, that the labels are not written in English. That's a big problem for a product that's going to be sold in the US (with the obvious exception of Spanish labeling in some communities in the US).

by bumby 5y ago

pdonis 5y ago

> Can you provide where the FDA has said European formulas are perfectly adequate? I didn't claim that the FDA said that. All I said was that the FDA's stated reason for prohibiting European formulas in the US has nothing to do with safety standards, only with labeling. The FDA, as far as I know, has not made any statement one way or the other about the safety standards themselves, but as the article notes, the European ones in this respect are at least as stringent as the FDA's.

daenz 5y ago
>only with labeling Not according to the OP's link though: >the FDA will not let you have it because it has not reviewed and approved the label or inspected the production facilities overseas. Emphasis mine.
bumby 5y ago
The point being made was that the labelling and content are not distinct issues. As an example, some banned European formulas do not contain the necessary nutrients and thus require a label denoting that additional nutrition is necessary.[1] Often, when people look at quality issues as purely non-essential "paperwork", they are missing the intent of the requirement. In this case, labelling something as "infant formula" connotates a precise nutritional meaning. Such oversight provides arbitrary rules-lawyering. [1] https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/able-groupe-recalling-products-labeled-infant-formula-formulas-have-insufficient-iron-levels https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety...
DiogenesKynikos 5y ago
Note that "only labeling" means, among other things, that the labels are not written in English. That's a big problem for a product that's going to be sold in the US (with the obvious exception of Spanish labeling in some communities in the US).