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Or, more to the point: why should I have to hire an expensive lawyer who's an expert on macaroni law to make sure I'm not going to potentially land myself in fe

Or, more to the point: why should I have to hire an expensive lawyer who's an expert on macaroni law to make sure I'm not going to potentially land myself in federal prison (or at least be subject to fines) when I start my new macaroni business blissfully unaware of said law? Why should the federal government spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars hosting a trial in front of a jury of a dozen people who all had to take time out of their day to decide beyond a reasonable doubt whether the macaroni I sold was, in fact 0.28 inches in diameter, and that I deserve to be punished for this horrible oversight? Why should I have to hire someone to regularly take a sample of the macaroni coming off my line and inspect it to check that it's less than 0.27 inches in diameter, and file a 5 page annual report on the thickness of my macaroni with the federal Office of Noodle Protection to ensure I'm in compliance with the updated 2024 Guidelines for the Measurement of Pasta and Pasta-like Products? (Okay, obviously I'm just making things up at this point but you get the picture.) Like, sure, in theory it seems nice to have some limits on what sellers are allowed to call macaroni. But there's a huge cost to these laws/regulations that goes beyond just the actual cost of adhering to the law. In my opinion any time the government does anything to intervene in private affairs it ought to have much stronger justification than just "wouldn't it be nice if..."

JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> why should I have to hire an expensive lawyer who's an expert on macaroni law And who do you think are the macaroni lawyers’ largest clients? The purpose of this rule is to ensure only certain people can produce macaroni.
- duxup 2y ago
  >The purpose of this rule is to ensure only certain people can produce macaroni. You keep saying that, is it true? I have a huge variety of macaroni and pasta options at my local store, made by all sorts of different suppliers, including small local businesses...
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > keep saying that, is it true? Yes. Specifically for Italian pastas. There is an import/export lobby that benefits from disparate labelling requirements. It came up during the pandemic around bucatini, which the FDA considers a macaroni product [1]. Of course, none of this matters if you can afford it. Plenty of Italian producers will ship you food labelled as furniture. But that is expensive since to set up. Every supermarket food has layers of these compliance costs built into the price. [1] https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/12/2020-bucatini-shortage-investigation.html https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/12/2020-bucatini-shortage-in...
    - duxup 2y ago
      I had trouble finishing (I didn't) that article, it was a little too long winded and a little hysterical for me. Oddly enough, there's a ton of De Cecco and Bucatini at my local grocery store.... conspiracy over?
      - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
        > there's a ton of De Cecco and Bucatini at my local grocery store.... conspiracy over? You asked for a source, couldn't manage to read it, couldn't manage to have it even summarised for you into simpler English and concluded conspiracy. And yes, the shortage is over. But the article goes into why there was a shortage in America. And it had to do with requirements around macaroni products. On a certain level, the current system works. Supermarkets serve industrial food that can be sold at a solid profit. Those profits pay some people more who can then buy a greater variety of food for cheaper than is broadly available. Win win.
        duxup 2y ago
        I'm not even sure I'd consider that story the way its told as a source but I'll take your word for it. De Cecco is not an unknown brand fighting against some massive conspiracy. They've been in the US for a long time ... I really don't think it supports your theory. De Cecco has been one of the brands I buy often for, I honestly don't even know how long, seems like forever.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago

> why should I have to hire an expensive lawyer who's an expert on macaroni law And who do you think are the macaroni lawyers’ largest clients? The purpose of this rule is to ensure only certain people can produce macaroni.

duxup 2y ago
>The purpose of this rule is to ensure only certain people can produce macaroni. You keep saying that, is it true? I have a huge variety of macaroni and pasta options at my local store, made by all sorts of different suppliers, including small local businesses...
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > keep saying that, is it true? Yes. Specifically for Italian pastas. There is an import/export lobby that benefits from disparate labelling requirements. It came up during the pandemic around bucatini, which the FDA considers a macaroni product [1]. Of course, none of this matters if you can afford it. Plenty of Italian producers will ship you food labelled as furniture. But that is expensive since to set up. Every supermarket food has layers of these compliance costs built into the price. [1] https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/12/2020-bucatini-shortage-investigation.html https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/12/2020-bucatini-shortage-in...
  - duxup 2y ago
    I had trouble finishing (I didn't) that article, it was a little too long winded and a little hysterical for me. Oddly enough, there's a ton of De Cecco and Bucatini at my local grocery store.... conspiracy over?
    - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
      > there's a ton of De Cecco and Bucatini at my local grocery store.... conspiracy over? You asked for a source, couldn't manage to read it, couldn't manage to have it even summarised for you into simpler English and concluded conspiracy. And yes, the shortage is over. But the article goes into why there was a shortage in America. And it had to do with requirements around macaroni products. On a certain level, the current system works. Supermarkets serve industrial food that can be sold at a solid profit. Those profits pay some people more who can then buy a greater variety of food for cheaper than is broadly available. Win win.
      - duxup 2y ago
        I'm not even sure I'd consider that story the way its told as a source but I'll take your word for it. De Cecco is not an unknown brand fighting against some massive conspiracy. They've been in the US for a long time ... I really don't think it supports your theory. De Cecco has been one of the brands I buy often for, I honestly don't even know how long, seems like forever.