8 ms·

Soylent recalls powder after dairy accidentally slips into 1.8 powder

58 points by ironchief 9y ago

jgrahamc 9y ago
Interesting inadvertent test of how many people are lactose intolerant vs. say they are.
- korzun 9y ago
  I'm missing the interesting and the test part.
- evilduck 9y ago
  From the article, it was cross contamination of whey powder which can be lactose free. IMO it's more concerning about their quality control and the fact that someone may be choosing the dairy free version for ethical reasons.
- geofft 9y ago
  I'm pretty sure people who are lactose-intolerant tend not to annihilate on contact with lactose, but lactose is hard to digest for them and increasing amounts of lactose cause increasing problems. Same with gluten-intolerant / celiac people; "I told them this pasta was gluten-free and they didn't notice" doesn't prove anything other than you very slightly eroded their digestive tract. As an analogy, I'm allergic to nuts but can usually successfully eat things with a small amount of nut content without even noticing, and foods fried in peanut oil are definitely fine. But if you tried to use that to claim I'm not actually allergic to nuts, you'd be wrong.
  - evgen 9y ago
    Peanut oil is a weird one, as a lot of people with peanut allergies react specifically to a protein in the peanut. Most of the cheap oil that the local Chinese restaurant orders in 55 gallon drums from Sysco has been refined so much there is no peanut protein left in it. As someone with a peanut allergy I have had no problems with strip mall egg rolls that I know have been fried in peanut oil but needed to use an epipen at Manressa because something was fried in some sort of organic, unrefined peanut oil.
  - tedmiston 9y ago
    Lactose intolerance varies widely and is totally non-binary. Some people will just have a rumbling stomach for a few hours from the amount of milk in a latte if they forget to take a few lactose pills while the opposite end of the spectrum will end up in the hospital and lactose pills will never be enough.
Neliquat 9y ago
Good on them for a fast and voluntary response. It is terrifying as a business owner for a 3rd party to effectively have the have physical responsibility while you have fiscal responsibility. Not a huge story however, this happens to every food company.
Analemma_ 9y ago
I love the idea of Soylent, but this has happened so many times now. It's not just the mold and the lead and the manufacturing defects, but the fact that often these were the result of decisions-- like not putting a foil cap on a liquid food product-- that people with experience in the food industry would never have made. I hate to give in to stereotypes, especially of my own industry, but Soylent really gives the impression that they're a bunch of Valley brogrammers just barging into an industry to "disrupt" everything, but without knowing how to do so without killing people. Does anyone know if there's a product that's "Soylent, but by people who know what the hell they're doing"? That's what I want to buy.
- irremediable 9y ago
  AFAIK Huel is produced by a qualified dietician, and hasn't had any issues.
  - Retric 9y ago
    Sorry but we don't currently ship to USA or Canada, but it's in the pipeline. Do you know of a US equivalent for a nutritionally complete bar not from Soylent?
    - irremediable 9y ago
      Ah damn, sorry, didn't realise they were EU-only. Maybe Mealsquares?
- angersock 9y ago
  Slim-Fast, Met-Rx...Carnation Instant Breakfast. This shit isn't new.
  - Analemma_ 9y ago
    I don't think that's quite the same thing though, at least not for Slim-Fast (I haven't heard of the others). Soylent claims to be nutritionally complete-- as in, you could theoretically live off it alone-- and Slim-Fast does not. I was looking for a competing product along those lines.
rodionos 9y ago
The way some processed food categories are evolving places them close to drugs in terms of risk. In drug manufacturing they use so called batch topologies to trace back individual components for risk management, audit and process improvement.
thebigspacefuck 9y ago
Could be worse. I've found a piece of metal in a burrito and there was a recall for possible glass in a brand of ravioli I eat.
markkat 9y ago
What worries me most, and why I stopped Soylent, is that the quality is not in their hands, but in the hands of their suppliers. Do they test everything that they receive to confirm that it is what the supplier says it is?
- stupidhn 9y ago
  >What worries me most, and why I stopped Soylent, is that the quality is not in their hands, but in the hands of their suppliers. Yep. We kicked around startup ideas based on the supplement industry, but the liability surrounding selling products you can't fully control seemed a bit rough for a small business.
- mrgoldenbrown 9y ago
  The amount of things that Soylent had plenty of control over and still got wrong worries me more, because that means they probably don't test everything :(
- tedmiston 9y ago
  I'm mostly happy as a Soylent customer, but they definitely have some issues in their order fulfillment as well. I've had shipments charge on my card and show up as processing in the dashboard but never ship (usually they go from ordered to shipped in 24-48 hours). After contacting them a week later, they simply said that my order had "gotten lost". Others have discussed this on Reddit and it seems to be relatively common.
newsat13 9y ago
So this is something juicero's mixer would have caught easily (the recall aspect).
- GenerocUsername 9y ago
  If only I had to scan each of my bottles with a 700 dollar device before I drank anything. Id be so much safer from dairy

58 points by ironchief 9y ago

jgrahamc 9y ago

Interesting inadvertent test of how many people are lactose intolerant vs. say they are.

korzun 9y ago
I'm missing the interesting and the test part.
evilduck 9y ago
From the article, it was cross contamination of whey powder which can be lactose free. IMO it's more concerning about their quality control and the fact that someone may be choosing the dairy free version for ethical reasons.
geofft 9y ago
I'm pretty sure people who are lactose-intolerant tend not to annihilate on contact with lactose, but lactose is hard to digest for them and increasing amounts of lactose cause increasing problems. Same with gluten-intolerant / celiac people; "I told them this pasta was gluten-free and they didn't notice" doesn't prove anything other than you very slightly eroded their digestive tract. As an analogy, I'm allergic to nuts but can usually successfully eat things with a small amount of nut content without even noticing, and foods fried in peanut oil are definitely fine. But if you tried to use that to claim I'm not actually allergic to nuts, you'd be wrong.
- evgen 9y ago
  Peanut oil is a weird one, as a lot of people with peanut allergies react specifically to a protein in the peanut. Most of the cheap oil that the local Chinese restaurant orders in 55 gallon drums from Sysco has been refined so much there is no peanut protein left in it. As someone with a peanut allergy I have had no problems with strip mall egg rolls that I know have been fried in peanut oil but needed to use an epipen at Manressa because something was fried in some sort of organic, unrefined peanut oil.
- tedmiston 9y ago
  Lactose intolerance varies widely and is totally non-binary. Some people will just have a rumbling stomach for a few hours from the amount of milk in a latte if they forget to take a few lactose pills while the opposite end of the spectrum will end up in the hospital and lactose pills will never be enough.

Neliquat 9y ago

Good on them for a fast and voluntary response. It is terrifying as a business owner for a 3rd party to effectively have the have physical responsibility while you have fiscal responsibility. Not a huge story however, this happens to every food company.

Analemma_ 9y ago

I love the idea of Soylent, but this has happened so many times now. It's not just the mold and the lead and the manufacturing defects, but the fact that often these were the result of decisions-- like not putting a foil cap on a liquid food product-- that people with experience in the food industry would never have made. I hate to give in to stereotypes, especially of my own industry, but Soylent really gives the impression that they're a bunch of Valley brogrammers just barging into an industry to "disrupt" everything, but without knowing how to do so without killing people. Does anyone know if there's a product that's "Soylent, but by people who know what the hell they're doing"? That's what I want to buy.

irremediable 9y ago
AFAIK Huel is produced by a qualified dietician, and hasn't had any issues.
- Retric 9y ago
  Sorry but we don't currently ship to USA or Canada, but it's in the pipeline. Do you know of a US equivalent for a nutritionally complete bar not from Soylent?
  - irremediable 9y ago
    Ah damn, sorry, didn't realise they were EU-only. Maybe Mealsquares?
angersock 9y ago
Slim-Fast, Met-Rx...Carnation Instant Breakfast. This shit isn't new.
- Analemma_ 9y ago
  I don't think that's quite the same thing though, at least not for Slim-Fast (I haven't heard of the others). Soylent claims to be nutritionally complete-- as in, you could theoretically live off it alone-- and Slim-Fast does not. I was looking for a competing product along those lines.

rodionos 9y ago

The way some processed food categories are evolving places them close to drugs in terms of risk. In drug manufacturing they use so called batch topologies to trace back individual components for risk management, audit and process improvement.

thebigspacefuck 9y ago

Could be worse. I've found a piece of metal in a burrito and there was a recall for possible glass in a brand of ravioli I eat.

markkat 9y ago

What worries me most, and why I stopped Soylent, is that the quality is not in their hands, but in the hands of their suppliers. Do they test everything that they receive to confirm that it is what the supplier says it is?

stupidhn 9y ago
>What worries me most, and why I stopped Soylent, is that the quality is not in their hands, but in the hands of their suppliers. Yep. We kicked around startup ideas based on the supplement industry, but the liability surrounding selling products you can't fully control seemed a bit rough for a small business.
mrgoldenbrown 9y ago
The amount of things that Soylent had plenty of control over and still got wrong worries me more, because that means they probably don't test everything :(
tedmiston 9y ago
I'm mostly happy as a Soylent customer, but they definitely have some issues in their order fulfillment as well. I've had shipments charge on my card and show up as processing in the dashboard but never ship (usually they go from ordered to shipped in 24-48 hours). After contacting them a week later, they simply said that my order had "gotten lost". Others have discussed this on Reddit and it seems to be relatively common.

newsat13 9y ago

So this is something juicero's mixer would have caught easily (the recall aspect).

GenerocUsername 9y ago
If only I had to scan each of my bottles with a 700 dollar device before I drank anything. Id be so much safer from dairy