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Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

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Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#101

Post by darawk »

Shivetya wrote: post #89
darawk wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can say the same thing about the food in any restaurant. I really don't understand the hate that's directed towards this product. Nobody was seriously injured, it was a relatively small number of people that got sick. Soylent is trying to do something more ambitious than other packaged food manufacturers. It's not unreasonable to expect there to be some small hiccups. If you can't tolerate that, then don't buy it…

because we crack down on and have to on companies selling food products when people are getting sick. look at all the recalls companies do with just possible contamination. the professional food industry knows damn well there are no acceptable risks. if people are getting sick entire batch numbers are yanked from retail. the one time a big company purposefully ignored resulted in jail time for executives from Peanut…

Ya, but it seems to me that's exactly what happened here. They pulled the batch numbers that were contaminated.

I guess I don't really see the difference. This isn't unprecedented in the packaged food industry, and it doesn't seem like they're handling it any worse than any other company has.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#102

Post by glenda »

darawk wrote: post #69
glenda wrote: post #4

Sounds like they have a bug in their "food stack" and this modification is like printf debugging - if no one gets sick then it was the algae, otherwise they will need to continue poking around to figure out what's wrong. What a silly game to play when people's health is at stake.

You can say the same thing about the food in any restaurant. I really don't understand the hate that's directed towards this product. Nobody was seriously injured, it was a relatively small number of people that got sick. Soylent is trying to do something more ambitious than other packaged food manufacturers. It's not unreasonable to expect there to be some small hiccups. If you can't tolerate that, then don't buy it…

I do stop going to a restaurant once I or someone I know has gotten sick there.

Look at Chipotle for instance, they are dealing with similar contamination related problems.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#103

Post by baby »

I love what Soylent is doing, I have wished for such a meal replacer all my life.

I've drank something like 40 bottles of Soylent (which are, so far presumably safe) and they have helped me replace a lot of fast food. Never had problems with them until I started getting nauseous and now I can't drink it anymore.

With all these news about people getting sick, I feel a bit silly having beta tested stuff with my own body. And they definitely have lost at least one customer here.

But I'm still happy to see them experimenting with such a product. I still want this to happen, I will just not beta test it myself.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#104

Post by freehunter »

conjectures wrote: post #94

Algae? Yeah right. Soylent green is made of people. Seriously though, how can a food supplement (sorry, meal replacement) company expect to prosper with a brand based on a sci-fi movie about cannibalism?

You feel that way because you're on the Internet. I've never seen the movie, it was way before my time, and it exists in the tiniest amount of public consciousness today. The only reason I know what Soylent Green even means is because people on the Internet reference it occasionally.

I've talked to quite a few people about Soylent and I've said "you know, like the movie" and most of the time they have no idea what I'm talking about.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#105

Post by DanBC »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #71
Xisiqomelir wrote: post #19

I'm still amazed people pay for this shit when fully-regulated formulated meal replacements have been around for years.

I ask this in every thread when it's brought up and almost never get a real answer. Are there any examples of drinks with a flavorless (or very mild) option, that don't focus on imbalanced amounts of protein and body-building? I like Soylent because it's relatively cheap (if I was just going for cost effectiveness, nothing beats bulk-buying beans and rice), I don't get sick of the taste after having it 3 times in a r…

Have you looked at medical product supply houses? There's a wide variety of tube feeding products, and many of those are unflavoured. (There's no point putting flavour in a product delivered into the stomach via a tube through the nose).

Some of these are fibre free, and most of them are high calorie, but there are normal calorie and with fibre versions available.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#107

Post by DanBC »

baby wrote: post #98
st3v3r wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Soylent is trying to do something more ambitious than other packaged food manufacturers" No, they aren't. There is nothing special about what they're trying to do compared to any other packaged food manufacturer. That's why they shouldn't be cut any more slack than any other manufacturer. "It's not unreasonable to expect there to be some small hiccups." It entirely is. If this happened to Twinkies, people would be l…

> There is nothing special about what they're trying to do compared to any other packaged food manufacturer I'm neutral on this debate, but I think you are wrong here. Soylent is a meal replacer. It is supposed to bring you all nutrients you need in a meal.

Dozens of those already exist and are used everyday in hospitals across the US.

They come in a wide variety of types - high and low protein, high and low calorie, with or without fibre, designed for naso-gastric tube feeding or for drinking, flavoured or unflavoured, designed to be eaten on their own or to be mixed with some other food stuff, designed to be eaten cold or hot.

The novelty of Soylent is (irresponsibly) marketing these to the public.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#108

Post by pstuart »

glenda wrote: post #102
darawk wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can say the same thing about the food in any restaurant. I really don't understand the hate that's directed towards this product. Nobody was seriously injured, it was a relatively small number of people that got sick. Soylent is trying to do something more ambitious than other packaged food manufacturers. It's not unreasonable to expect there to be some small hiccups. If you can't tolerate that, then don't buy it…

I do stop going to a restaurant once I or someone I know has gotten sick there. Look at Chipotle for instance, they are dealing with similar contamination related problems.

And they've taken active steps to prevent it happening again.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#109

Post by livingparadox »

crispyambulance wrote: post #60
haliax wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have examples that are both not full of sugar and available to the general public at a reasonable cost?

Any snack that satisfies appetite and doesn't make you sick or fat too quickly would suffice. A bag of nuts, a power bar, fruit, vegetables, canned fish/meat, etc. One can always balance out nutritional intake on subsequent "real" meals. Somehow the marketing folks for Soylent have been able to convince a lot of people that they ACTUALLY NEED a fully balanced meal replacement consisting of synthetic food upon which s…

All those examples you've mentioned fill a very different niche than what Soylent is filling. Most people on Soylent aren't looking for something to keep them from getting hungry until they get a more balanced meal. They're looking for a quick, healthy, balanced meal. Soylent fills that desire, your examples do not.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#110

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

binarymax wrote: post #7

Where is the FDA in all of this? I would hope that after the widespread issues with the product, they would have stepped in and blocked shipment until safety studies have been done that comply with regulations.

Perhaps they're used to dealing with competent proprietors?
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