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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

#121

Post by trhway »

hacker_9 wrote: post #5

Clearly there is a market for this 'super convenience' food/drink if people are still willing to buy this product after it made them sick. Even when their own stomach is the guinea pig. The company could do with better marketing though, reading things like this: In 2013, he raised capital to turn his full attention to Soylent, which he named after the science fiction novel that served as the basis for the 1973 movie…

> The company could do with better marketing

better?! you've just said yourself:

>people are still willing to buy this product after it made them sick.

you can't do better than that :) They basically hit the same "hi-tech/advanced/futuristic" bullseye in the heads of today youngsters that Campbell soup and other highly processed food industry hit 50+ years ago.

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

#122

Post by ng12 »

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.

Chipotle's issues were sanitation related. Soylent's problem was people being allergic to an ingredient they didn't know they were allergic to.

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

#123

Post by [deleted] »

st3v3r wrote: post #72
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…

"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…

[deleted]

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

#126

Post by ng12 »

st3v3r wrote: post #72
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…

"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…

> That's why they shouldn't be cut any more slack than any other manufacturer.

I think it's the opposite, people are unnecessarily critical of Soylent. The problem is consumers weren't aware they were allergic to algae flour. It has nothing to do with Soylent's hygiene or formulation practices.

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

#127

Post by catenthusiast »

_23sd wrote: post #120
DanBC wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have wished for such a meal replacer all my life. why aren't any of the very many other products that have existed for years been good enough?

What products would those be? Most meal replacement shakes marketed in the US are for people trying to lose weight, so they have far less calories and fat than a meal for people just trying to eat healthy.

Have you heard of Ensure?

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

#129

Post by frenchy »

_23sd wrote: post #114
DINKDINK wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if no one gets sick then it was the algae, otherwise they will need to continue poking around to figure out what's wrong. Chemistry and biology doesn't work like this. This is excessively simplistic/reductive. Food is a concoction of elements of chemical composition (naturally and/or synthetically produced). The reaction of one chemicals is _dependent_ on all of the other chemicals present and the quantities of the…

Can you give any examples of reactions between food ingredients making people sick? The usual reasons that foods make people sick are quite specific to an ingredient: digestive issues usually stem from inability to digest a particular sugar, and allergies arise from food-specific antigens. Neither is created or modified when you mix two foods together, or digest one in the presence of the other.

Heme-bound iron is better absorbed by the body than other sources of iron, which is why sometimes vegetarians are anemic despite the high quantity of iron in vegetables.

Much of the the known mechanics of digestion are molecular, but that's mostly due to the fact that we have a lot better scientific tools to deal with things on a molecular level than we do with macro-molecular constructs.

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

#130

Post by nommm-nommm »

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.

Haven't you ever seen a commercial for meal replacement shakes before? They've been a staple in the diet industry as long as I've been alive. Liquid diets are also a "thing" in medical settings for patients who are unable to take solid foods. Remember "Carnation Instant Breakfast"? That's been around since the 60s. Its really not an original idea.
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