8 ms·

The comparison between American and Canadian Froot Loop cereal is illuminating: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/uc265y/american_froot_loops

The comparison between American and Canadian Froot Loop cereal is illuminating: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/uc265y/american_froot_loops_are_different_colours_than/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/uc265y/a...

kwanbix 2y ago
Those companies ought to be sued. They know that their die is cancer-linked and they still use it in the US even though they don't do it in Canada/EU. We, as humanity, should sue all this big companies (nestle, coca-cola, etc.) for poisoning our lives for profit.
- haliskerbas 2y ago
  in the US, priority #1 is fiduciary duty to shareholders. if customers are buying, and we make it more expensive to make, then shareholders will be mad!
  - parineum 2y ago
    Not causing cancer falls under fiduciary duty.
    - arcticbull 2y ago
      Azo dyes, in the quantities used in food, do not cause cancer. What causes diabetes and cancer is obesity which you're likely getting from consuming the food -- dyed naturally or artificially. The dye is ancillary. People need to eat less of the Doritos, the azo dyes aren't the problem.
- gonzobonzo 2y ago
  I looked into it, and from what I can tell the only link to cancer they've found so far is in male rats exposed to high levels of it, but they haven't found evidence that it causes cancer in humans or other animals. What's odd to me is that it's still fine to sell food like bacon, where the link to cancer in humans appears to be much, much stronger.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - SV_BubbleTime 2y ago
    Ok, well then, I’m sure no Americans are eating high levels of foods that contain dyes. So, surely there are long term 20 year plus studies on cumulative effects, right?
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - streptomycin 2y ago
      The only rats that developed cancer more than baseline in the study had a diet that was 4% red #3. Pretty sure no Americans are approaching that lol
    - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
      Depends on the definition of high level. Was the amount given to the rats equivalent of 5x fruit loop bowls, or 5,000,000x?
  - sneak 2y ago
    …or cigarettes, which are available for sale everywhere. If unhealthy foods are to be banned, we must also ban cigarettes and alcohol. If we are to let people be bodybuilders, or body destroyers, then all of these things should be available for purchase. Ultimately it is a special kind of arrogance to tell people what they are or are not allowed to do to the one thing they unambiguously own and control: their own body.
    - kwanbix 2y ago
      the difference is that you are aware and are told about tobaco (which I would ban) and alcohol, food you are not told.
      - zerro4 2y ago
smallerize 2y ago
I don't think Froot Loops ever used red 3. They use red 40.
- darknavi 2y ago
  It's more of a commentary about how food in the US is overly colored for no other reason than it looks cool, sometimes at the detriment of the health of the consumer.
  - nordsieck 2y ago
    > food in the US is overly colored for no other reason than it looks cool My understanding is that a lot of food is colored to look "natural" for uniformity. A good example of this is applesauce.
    - ninju 2y ago
      Another item is sprayed for coloring is ORANGES (Citrus Red No. 2 is the color) https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/cpg-sec-550625-oranges-artificial-coloring https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidan...
  - will4274 2y ago
    Neither color of Fruit Loops is natural. American food is colored to look cool, because cool sells better with Americans. Canadian food is colored to look dull, because dull sells better with Canadians.
    - dymk 2y ago
      Is that your guess or were you in the marketing research department at Kellogs?
      - will4274 2y ago
        It's just how cereal is made. Before fruit loops are loops, they are grain mash. That grain mash is mostly uniform in color and brown-ish. In order to have a bowl filled with loops where some of the loops are yellow and others are green and others are blue, they add different colors of dye. It's the same whether it's neon green or organic green - the dye is added at the end for appeal to the consumer.
xyzzy_plugh 2y ago
I find this particularly interesting because it is due to market conditions, not legislation, that many Canadian foods have switched to colors from natural ingredients. These companies appear to believe that Canadians prefer fewer artificial ingredients, and that Americans don't seem to care. Very curious.
- ipython 2y ago
  It is happening, albeit slowly, here in the USA as well. Trader Joe’s generally has no added artificial dyes, fruit by the foot now is naturally colored, Whole Foods of course, and Wegmans bakery products. Its just that there still are so many products you don’t expect- marshmallows with blue dye to make them more “bright white”, candies/sprinkles, any children’s medicine in syrup form (although you can now get some in dye free form finally)
lm28469 2y ago
It's the same from most things, I wonder why americans are ok with that mcdonalds fries: https://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/McDonalds-French-Fries-Ingredients112.jpg https://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/McDonalds-... fanta: https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/ab2mWVvJ_Tp7.UWQpFd.pQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTUzOQ--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/tasting_table_543/3172977ad975773370e3de22a782599b https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/ab2mWVvJ_Tp7.UWQpFd.pQ--/Y... oats: https://foodbabe.com/app/uploads/2019/02/U.S.-vs.-Uk-quaker-oats-packets.jpg https://foodbabe.com/app/uploads/2019/02/U.S.-vs.-Uk-quaker-... chips: https://foodbabe.com/app/uploads/2019/02/U.S.-vs.-Uk-doritos-ingredients.jpg https://foodbabe.com/app/uploads/2019/02/U.S.-vs.-Uk-doritos...
- lovecg 2y ago
  I’m wondering, what are we seeing here? Actual difference in ingredients used, or a difference in regulations requiring listing all ingredients?
  - alchemist1e9 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - fnimick 2y ago
      I mean, he's still a nutcase. He can be right about some things for the wrong reasons. If you hit upon a scientifically accurate conclusion through an unrigorous process, basically by pure chance, this doesn't make you a good scientist.
      - alchemist1e9 2y ago
        Except he isn’t a nutcase. They twist his words incredibly. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/01/14/los_angeles_times_owner_robert_f_kennedy_jr_knows_more_about_the_science_than_most_doctors.html https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/01/14/los_angel... So many people who opposed him and then take the time to understand what is actually saying, not what they have been told he is saying, come to realize he is completely sane. Bernie Sanders is on that list fwiw.
slavik81 2y ago
The Canadian cereal was the same colour as in the US until a few years ago. I'm not sure what prompted the change.
- xgkickt 2y ago
  Working towards getting the Canada European-Union Comprehensive Trade Agreement (CETA) ratified perhaps?
deaddodo 2y ago
Hot Cheetos, outside the US and parts of LATAM, aren't red: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDOFPuy33m4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDOFPuy33m4 It's kinda jarring having grown up with that association.

kwanbix 2y ago

Those companies ought to be sued. They know that their die is cancer-linked and they still use it in the US even though they don't do it in Canada/EU. We, as humanity, should sue all this big companies (nestle, coca-cola, etc.) for poisoning our lives for profit.

haliskerbas 2y ago
in the US, priority #1 is fiduciary duty to shareholders. if customers are buying, and we make it more expensive to make, then shareholders will be mad!
- parineum 2y ago
  Not causing cancer falls under fiduciary duty.
  - arcticbull 2y ago
    Azo dyes, in the quantities used in food, do not cause cancer. What causes diabetes and cancer is obesity which you're likely getting from consuming the food -- dyed naturally or artificially. The dye is ancillary. People need to eat less of the Doritos, the azo dyes aren't the problem.
gonzobonzo 2y ago
I looked into it, and from what I can tell the only link to cancer they've found so far is in male rats exposed to high levels of it, but they haven't found evidence that it causes cancer in humans or other animals. What's odd to me is that it's still fine to sell food like bacon, where the link to cancer in humans appears to be much, much stronger.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- SV_BubbleTime 2y ago
  Ok, well then, I’m sure no Americans are eating high levels of foods that contain dyes. So, surely there are long term 20 year plus studies on cumulative effects, right?
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - streptomycin 2y ago
    The only rats that developed cancer more than baseline in the study had a diet that was 4% red #3. Pretty sure no Americans are approaching that lol
  - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
    Depends on the definition of high level. Was the amount given to the rats equivalent of 5x fruit loop bowls, or 5,000,000x?
- sneak 2y ago
  …or cigarettes, which are available for sale everywhere. If unhealthy foods are to be banned, we must also ban cigarettes and alcohol. If we are to let people be bodybuilders, or body destroyers, then all of these things should be available for purchase. Ultimately it is a special kind of arrogance to tell people what they are or are not allowed to do to the one thing they unambiguously own and control: their own body.
  - kwanbix 2y ago
    the difference is that you are aware and are told about tobaco (which I would ban) and alcohol, food you are not told.
    - zerro4 2y ago

smallerize 2y ago

I don't think Froot Loops ever used red 3. They use red 40.

darknavi 2y ago
It's more of a commentary about how food in the US is overly colored for no other reason than it looks cool, sometimes at the detriment of the health of the consumer.
- nordsieck 2y ago
  > food in the US is overly colored for no other reason than it looks cool My understanding is that a lot of food is colored to look "natural" for uniformity. A good example of this is applesauce.
  - ninju 2y ago
    Another item is sprayed for coloring is ORANGES (Citrus Red No. 2 is the color) https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/cpg-sec-550625-oranges-artificial-coloring https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidan...
- will4274 2y ago
  Neither color of Fruit Loops is natural. American food is colored to look cool, because cool sells better with Americans. Canadian food is colored to look dull, because dull sells better with Canadians.
  - dymk 2y ago
    Is that your guess or were you in the marketing research department at Kellogs?
    - will4274 2y ago
      It's just how cereal is made. Before fruit loops are loops, they are grain mash. That grain mash is mostly uniform in color and brown-ish. In order to have a bowl filled with loops where some of the loops are yellow and others are green and others are blue, they add different colors of dye. It's the same whether it's neon green or organic green - the dye is added at the end for appeal to the consumer.

xyzzy_plugh 2y ago

I find this particularly interesting because it is due to market conditions, not legislation, that many Canadian foods have switched to colors from natural ingredients. These companies appear to believe that Canadians prefer fewer artificial ingredients, and that Americans don't seem to care. Very curious.

ipython 2y ago
It is happening, albeit slowly, here in the USA as well. Trader Joe’s generally has no added artificial dyes, fruit by the foot now is naturally colored, Whole Foods of course, and Wegmans bakery products. Its just that there still are so many products you don’t expect- marshmallows with blue dye to make them more “bright white”, candies/sprinkles, any children’s medicine in syrup form (although you can now get some in dye free form finally)

lm28469 2y ago

It's the same from most things, I wonder why americans are ok with that mcdonalds fries: https://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/McDonalds-French-Fries-Ingredients112.jpg https://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/McDonalds-... fanta: https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/ab2mWVvJ_Tp7.UWQpFd.pQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTUzOQ--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/tasting_table_543/3172977ad975773370e3de22a782599b https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/ab2mWVvJ_Tp7.UWQpFd.pQ--/Y... oats: https://foodbabe.com/app/uploads/2019/02/U.S.-vs.-Uk-quaker-oats-packets.jpg https://foodbabe.com/app/uploads/2019/02/U.S.-vs.-Uk-quaker-... chips: https://foodbabe.com/app/uploads/2019/02/U.S.-vs.-Uk-doritos-ingredients.jpg https://foodbabe.com/app/uploads/2019/02/U.S.-vs.-Uk-doritos...

lovecg 2y ago
I’m wondering, what are we seeing here? Actual difference in ingredients used, or a difference in regulations requiring listing all ingredients?
- alchemist1e9 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - fnimick 2y ago
    I mean, he's still a nutcase. He can be right about some things for the wrong reasons. If you hit upon a scientifically accurate conclusion through an unrigorous process, basically by pure chance, this doesn't make you a good scientist.
    - alchemist1e9 2y ago
      Except he isn’t a nutcase. They twist his words incredibly. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/01/14/los_angeles_times_owner_robert_f_kennedy_jr_knows_more_about_the_science_than_most_doctors.html https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/01/14/los_angel... So many people who opposed him and then take the time to understand what is actually saying, not what they have been told he is saying, come to realize he is completely sane. Bernie Sanders is on that list fwiw.

slavik81 2y ago

The Canadian cereal was the same colour as in the US until a few years ago. I'm not sure what prompted the change.

xgkickt 2y ago
Working towards getting the Canada European-Union Comprehensive Trade Agreement (CETA) ratified perhaps?

deaddodo 2y ago

Hot Cheetos, outside the US and parts of LATAM, aren't red: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDOFPuy33m4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDOFPuy33m4 It's kinda jarring having grown up with that association.