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Comment by rob74 | Hacker News Reader

> Barilla pasta isn't made in Italy

Well, I sure hope that Barilla pasta sold in the US isn't made in Italy! Why would it be? Ok, maybe shipping wine and other luxury products halfway around the globe makes some sense, but I'm confident pasta can be manufactured to the same quality standards in most of the developed world. It's already bad enough that a brand called Kerrygold is actually shipping butter from Ireland all over Europe just so they can declare it as "Irish butter", or that French or Italian mineral water is being shipped all over the world...

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Thre are absolutely legitimate ingredient variation and quality differences in different parts of the world.

Taking your example of Kerrygold butter, have you ever tried it? It's _very_ good. I've had various other "premium" butters even sourced locally, and while they are also good in their own ways, there is a distinct flavor difference which I'm willing to pay for.

So if you as a company want to make your customers happy (and keep them as customers) by continuing to provide some certain specific aspect of your product that can only be achieved by producing it in a certain specific location, it's not reasonable to say "just make it local to where you sell it".

> It's already bad enough that a brand called Kerrygold is actually shipping butter from Ireland all over Europe just so they can declare it as "Irish butter"

They have to, it's EU regulations. It actually long predates the EU: Article 275 [0] of the Treaty of Versailles is probably not even the first international agreement about the labeling of products.

[0] https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles/Part_X#A...

Italy exports over 280 000 tons of pasta to the US annually [1].

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1378245/italy-export-vol...

>It's already bad enough that a brand called Kerrygold is actually shipping butter from Ireland all over Europe

Not just Europe...

https://www.costcobusinessdelivery.com/Kerrygold-Pure-Irish-...

As a person who can’t eat wheat, it’s a useful distinction. There are many, many conversations about non-celiacs finding that they can eat wheat when traveling in Europe. Between herbicides (you know the one) and the very different strains of wheat we grow there is a lot to unpack.

I have a bag of Made in Italy pasta I am building up the courage to cook still.

> Between herbicides (you know the one)

Are you talking about Roundup? You'll be glad to know that it's not only still legal in the EU, but they're actually looking to extend its authorization for another 10 years. So the difference in pasta is probably coming from something else.

Do they use it as a defoliant? Pre-emergent herbicides have all season to break down. In the US we spray roundup on wheat at the end of the season to make it all harvestable at the same time. That is much closer to the minimums placed on the label, which are most likely wrong.

I don't know, it's not a subject I've followed closely. My comment was based on an article today in Le Figaro (French daily paper) [0] about how the EU proposed to prolong the authorization of glyphosate use for ten more years, since there was no conclusive evidence that it's harmful. However, apparently states still have to deliver authorizations for use themselves, and the EU calls on them to be careful about any harmful effects on "small mammals" and underground water. The article doesn't say anything about when it's allowed to be used. I've checked French Wikipedia which doesn't seem to say this, either.

[0] in French: https://www.lefigaro.fr/social/glyphosate-bruxelles-propose-...

Is there any evidence of this or do we just have social media anecdotes?

Else it just sounds like the Place, Japan meme like when Americans lose weight on vacation in Europe and claim they ate the same food/calories (how?) and also neglect to mention they walked 25000 steps.

Nobody knows what is going on. It’s certainly both. Psychosomatic people and people with real problems. We are just starting to figure out bowel and fatigue problems, and many people have both. Could be allergy, could be antibodies from an infection that accidentally to intentionally looked like elements of food, or the intestinal wall. Could be an exotic form of depression. Nobody knows.

For me I could eat wheat or drink coffee without problems, but both were multiplicatively bad. I chose coffee, but that lasted about six years and it was off the menu too. There is something about Chinese restaurant egg fried rice that just wrecks me. Popular theory is that they use some sort of filler in the eggs. Or something with their brand of soy sauce. Japanese, consumer soy sauce affects me but nowhere near this much. Tamari seems to be fine.

We get lots of European-produced staples (including Kerrygold butter!) in the US. I can't speak for everyone, but I definitely used to think that Barilla was shipping from Italy and that was why it was more expensive than the brands next to it.

Apparently the slogan was: “Italy’s #1 brand of pasta.”

And it still is, isn't it. However, nowhere does it imply that the pasta you have on your table is produced in Italy. I fully agree that we must push back on lies and deceit, but this example isn't one of them.

...and that's 100% true - it's an Italian company, and it's the market leader in Italy. And it's using the same recipes to make pasta in other countries, too. Don't see anything wrong, neither with the slogan, nor with the approach...

Except that the consumer isn't actually getting the product that made the brand #1 in Italy, are they? They're getting a differently-manufactured product with the same facade, but we both know the implication is that you're receiving the same product that has produced the property about which the company is bragging.

It's strictly true, but it's also misleading.

As an italian, I wouldn't recommend barilla. I like Garofalo a lot more.

But I never did a proper comparison, so this is subjective and speculative.

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