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Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

latimes.com

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Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#761

Post by jedmeyers »

arcadeparade wrote: post #697
eriknstr wrote: post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least he's been eating his own product almost exclusively when at home according to that blog post. This gave me a positive impression at the start of the blog post and I was agreeing with what he said initially, but then it went downhill. I would not want to get rid of my kitchen and I would absolutely never replace my food with Soylent, especially now that I've heard of all the people getting sick from it. Also,…

The prion disease rumours circulating on Twitter about Soylent are really disturbing.

Prion diseases usually take longer than the couple of months to develop symptoms.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#762

Post by md2be »

rl12345 wrote: post #572

Soylent’s product itself has zero novelty in it. Meal Replacement Powders (MRPs) have been around for decades and are popular among the bodybuilding crowd. The only “innovation” Soylent has brought to the table was being the first company to market MRPs to geeks and hipsters -- and that's it. Personally, I've never tried their product because the ingredients they use seemed average/fudged at best (and I tend to avoid…

You are spot on. Almost 30 years ago the tiger bar meal replacement bar was introduced and 1000s have followed. I'm trying to understand how the tech community doesn't get this? The big natural foods trade show happens a few times a year. It is referred to as NatutalExpo East / West. I've been attending (as a food scientist and entrepreneur) for more than a decade. Food bars are perhaps have the lowest barrier to entry. If you have the 10K, I can find you a a dozen copackers who will produce 3-5 thousand bars for you.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#763

Post by Klathmon »

ksherlock wrote: post #756
Klathmon wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it's the storage. Lettuce goes bad, fruits rot, bread gets moldy, all within a short timeframe. I buy some Soylent and it will be good there for a while. So when I'm hungry and we are out of bread, now it's a 30 second meal vs a 30 minutes or more to run to the store.

> Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick >I buy some Soylent and it will be good there for a while.

... Which as far as I or anyone else knows has nothing to do with it's shelf-life.

Regardless, I'm hoping you realize that I was being general and using "Soylent" as the example there because that was the topic of conversation.

Also your comment is especially funny to me as I've never purchased Soylent the product. I have things similar to it, but I've never bought any Soylent. Once they get this figured out, I might try their bars, but they seem a bit expensive for me which is why I'm always apprehensive to pull the trigger.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#764

Post by vacri »

SquareWheel wrote: post #475
vacri wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdata... strawman... no citations of your own despite requirements for same... somethingsomething 'unscientific'?

The point is that one unsubstantiated anecdote cancels out the other. Why is the first comment okay but this one isn't? You can't have it both ways.

The comment I responded to was mockingly talking about dying with the original wasn't. It was being smarmy when the original was talking cleanly. Abusing someone for lack of science when you're being snarky is a footgun.

My point is that if you are chiding someone for a lack of quality, you shouldn't use even less quality to do so.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#765

Post by bbctol »

thefucnjosh wrote: post #736
laksjd wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a minor, your parents decided for you, but once you're 18 nothing is stopping you from either trying to re-negotiate the contract (i.e. become politically active) or trying to find a better deal (emigrate). You can also decide to simply unilaterally break the contract (become a criminal) and in practice you could even live without such a contract in a variety of vast areas that are largely uninhabited. You're not…

It's 2016, we have Amended the Constitution so the Senate is democratically ellected, we have live video footage of police brutality for when we are abused...and yet the collective constituency of the nation has to pick between two presidential candidates with the lowest approval ratings in theirown parties that anyone has ever seen. Yet, you try and say that social contract theory applies to an individual? When it c…

We don't have to choose between two options. Some people are more likely to win than others, but that's to be expected.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#767

Post by md2be »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #723
rl12345 wrote: post #572

Soylent’s product itself has zero novelty in it. Meal Replacement Powders (MRPs) have been around for decades and are popular among the bodybuilding crowd. The only “innovation” Soylent has brought to the table was being the first company to market MRPs to geeks and hipsters -- and that's it. Personally, I've never tried their product because the ingredients they use seemed average/fudged at best (and I tend to avoid…

Find me a MRP that has: A balanced amount of nutrients, and not just 600% protein and 10% of everything else. Isn't loaded with sugar so it tastes like a dessert. Isn't filled with artificial sweeteners so it tastes like a fake dessert. And isn't nutritionally designed for body-builders / children / elderly. I wouldn't mind switching away from Soylent. With articles like this, and their spammy marketing for their new…

You've got to be kidding me. There are 100s of products to choose from. And nobody should be living off of a powdered food. But a vitamix blender ($450) and you'll be able to blend about anything. Here's one of my favs, Take some cashews, Coconut oil, avocado, raw Cacoa you'll be below away and healthy.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#768

Post by bbctol »

oldmanjay wrote: post #646
rl12345 wrote: post #572

Soylent’s product itself has zero novelty in it. Meal Replacement Powders (MRPs) have been around for decades and are popular among the bodybuilding crowd. The only “innovation” Soylent has brought to the table was being the first company to market MRPs to geeks and hipsters -- and that's it. Personally, I've never tried their product because the ingredients they use seemed average/fudged at best (and I tend to avoid…

Your dismissal is 100% emotional. Do you have any reasons that I should find it compelling or are you relying entirely on emotional resonance to make your anti-soylent case?

What? The dismissal was that the product previously existed. What's emotional about that?

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#769

Post by colejohnson66 »

lexhaynes wrote: post #710
n72 wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The founder of Soylent clearly believes he's an expert in many, many fields: http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1331 BTW, anyone know a good word for this attitude? I wouldn't call it hybris, though it's closely related. It's a mix of arrogance, over confidence, ignorance, plus more and very prevalent in SV.

He seems to have obsessive compulsive tendencies so severe that he can't eat food (e.g. "Kitchens are dirty") combined with some narcissism...

> "Kitchens are dirty"

I don't get that logic. Your toilet is probably cleaner than your kitchen or phone. Doesn't mean you'd eat off your toilet. Besides, you can always clean your kitchen.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#770

Post by squeaky-clean »

another_account wrote: post #755
squeaky-clean wrote: post #723

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Find me a MRP that has: A balanced amount of nutrients, and not just 600% protein and 10% of everything else. Isn't loaded with sugar so it tastes like a dessert. Isn't filled with artificial sweeteners so it tastes like a fake dessert. And isn't nutritionally designed for body-builders / children / elderly. I wouldn't mind switching away from Soylent. With articles like this, and their spammy marketing for their new…

Slimfast and Complan off the top of my head. And those two have been around for decades. MyProtein sell simular stuff that is more balanced than whey protein + whole milk for a meal replacement. Also, whey + whole milk + instant oats lets you control the macros fairly well, assuming your getting all your micro-nutrients from real food elsewhere. And this is without looking on google. Id bet there are many many more.…

I know those, and they don't match any of my criteria. Slimfast has no flavors that aren't dessert drinks.

For a 400 calorie serving of Slimfast original, it's over 36g sugars (vs 9g Soylent). Slimfast Advanced has almost no sugar, but is "sweetened with non-nutritive sweetener" (from their website). I can't find which actual sweetener it is, but most artificial sweeteners upset my stomach and taste more terrible than sweet.

Complan is also loaded with carbs, (33g sugar + 30g else) and has no fiber.

They're marketed as meal replacements, but I don't see how they're anything but vitamin enriched milk shakes.

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