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Processed foods are far more complex and involve far more technology than you might imagine. The production process used by the original manufacturer is effecti
by jdietrich 7y ago
Processed foods are far more complex and involve far more technology than you might imagine. The production process used by the original manufacturer is effectively a black box, so cloning a breakfast cereal involves a major reverse-engineering effort. The thoroughness of that effort is bounded by the need to undercut the original manufacturer on price, which may also affect the quality of ingredients.
- derefr 7y ago> The production process used by the original manufacturer is effectively a black box Don't they patent that, too? Isn't that what the parent commentor is referring to when saying "it's been 123 years since Cornflakes were patented"—that the original manufacturer's exact factory design should be in the public domain by now?
- Paperweight 7y agoEvery reply misunderstood at least one of my points? Like there are even videos on YouTube that document every step of the Cornflakes production process... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmMNtV8jBqw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmMNtV8jBqw The generics must cut corners (not grinding as fine? not baking as long?) that surely reduce costs by only a few pennies per box, but at the cost of greatly reduced sales overall. Maybe it has something to do with everyone knowing that the generics are bad as a class, so there's no point in any particular white-label manufacturer achieving any quality better than the bare minimum? Maybe there's a little-known breakfast cereal commodity market?