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Soylent's problem is not a seemingly overlooked ingredient. Their biggest problem is inability to run the continuous food processing loop. What's the point of

Soylent's problem is not a seemingly overlooked ingredient. Their biggest problem is inability to run the continuous food processing loop. What's the point of tweaking the recipe if you can't guarantee the execution and your customers get, basically, randomness for lunch? We had a corporate subscription for Soylent 2.0 drink. The taste varied from batch to batch on the scale from "milk in a cereal bowl" to "sewage water". These issues have been regularly popping up on reddit and their own forums for months now. We have suspended the subscription and I can't bring myself to try another bottle, even though I originally loved the concept and the taste.

developer2 10y ago
To be fair, this statement is something that needs to be followed up with hard evidence. Inconsistent flavour between batches does not necessarily mean you're getting different percentages of ingredients. You can't simply blame them for variation in taste; just look at orange juice companies for the amount of chemical manipulation that goes into making a single brand of orange juice taste exactly the same in every batch even though oranges naturally have varying flavors. That is not the kind of science I want behind my food. There are thousands of individuals and organizations out there with the equipment to analyze batches to determine whether the mix is consistent. Why haven't we heard from them? I can't imagine risk of lawsuit for defamation is the only reason. The whole appeal of Soylent is that the formula is public; surely they can't be hiding behind "publishing analysis of our product is exposing our corporate secrets".
- IanCal 10y ago
  > There are thousands of individuals and organizations out there with the equipment to analyze batches to determine whether the mix is consistent. Why haven't we heard from them? Honest question, why would anyone bother? Who would actually benefit from being able to release a statement about how variable it is?
brandon272 10y ago
My main complaint with the 1.5 powder was extreme inconsistency between batches. One batch, which many people were complaining about in the Soylent forums, had a rancid/sour/burnt taste and smell to it. The problem with the formula is that because it has a very bland taste, inconsistency stands out like a sore thumb and your mind works wonders to create an aversion to the whole product. Once I started having the weird tasting Soylent, even the "normal" batches were no longer palatable to me. Soylent staff dismissed these concerns as "normal variation in a plant based product".
kw71 10y ago
I saw an early video and the assembly line was completely manual. It looked like a person went around the table and added a scoop of each ingredient to his container. With such an imprecise process i can't imagine how they control consistency or quality.

developer2 10y ago

To be fair, this statement is something that needs to be followed up with hard evidence. Inconsistent flavour between batches does not necessarily mean you're getting different percentages of ingredients. You can't simply blame them for variation in taste; just look at orange juice companies for the amount of chemical manipulation that goes into making a single brand of orange juice taste exactly the same in every batch even though oranges naturally have varying flavors. That is not the kind of science I want behind my food. There are thousands of individuals and organizations out there with the equipment to analyze batches to determine whether the mix is consistent. Why haven't we heard from them? I can't imagine risk of lawsuit for defamation is the only reason. The whole appeal of Soylent is that the formula is public; surely they can't be hiding behind "publishing analysis of our product is exposing our corporate secrets".

IanCal 10y ago
> There are thousands of individuals and organizations out there with the equipment to analyze batches to determine whether the mix is consistent. Why haven't we heard from them? Honest question, why would anyone bother? Who would actually benefit from being able to release a statement about how variable it is?

brandon272 10y ago

My main complaint with the 1.5 powder was extreme inconsistency between batches. One batch, which many people were complaining about in the Soylent forums, had a rancid/sour/burnt taste and smell to it. The problem with the formula is that because it has a very bland taste, inconsistency stands out like a sore thumb and your mind works wonders to create an aversion to the whole product. Once I started having the weird tasting Soylent, even the "normal" batches were no longer palatable to me. Soylent staff dismissed these concerns as "normal variation in a plant based product".

kw71 10y ago

I saw an early video and the assembly line was completely manual. It looked like a person went around the table and added a scoop of each ingredient to his container. With such an imprecise process i can't imagine how they control consistency or quality.