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Soylent is a food, like the McDonald's McRib sandwich, the Baconator from Wendy's, the Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast, and the delicious beef tacos from my local

Soylent is a food, like the McDonald's McRib sandwich, the Baconator from Wendy's, the Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast, and the delicious beef tacos from my local Mexican restaurant. Why does Soylent need more scrutiny than any of these or the hundreds of thousands of other food products on the market today?

whyenot 13y ago
> Soylent is a food The company is claiming that it is a dietary supplement and NOT food in order to avoid FDA scrutiny. At least that is what the PandoDaily article that was originally linked to claims.
- aianus 13y ago
  Their blog post today states "Soylent is designed and regulated as a food, not a supplement."
- salemh 13y ago
  This is from the actual parent article: Soylent is designed and regulated as a food, not a supplement.
oftenwrong 13y ago
Because your local Mexican restaurant doesn't claim that you can eat nothing but their tacos and maintain perfect health.
- sneak 13y ago
  That should not change the standards they are held to. Nobody's forcing people to eat soylent 24/7, any more than they're forcing people to eat supersized big macs for three meals a day.
  - DanBC 13y ago
    Except food is held to a different standard than supplements. Soylent is regulated as a supplement, but sold and promoted as a food. People aren't asking for weird amounts of scrutiny, just for the same amount of regulation as the rest of the food chain. Seeing the filthy conditions that the beta product was made in was surprising - the founders knowing how bad it was but continuing to ship beta product to paying beta customers is weird.
    - sneak 13y ago
      None of those were paying customers - it was private, invite-only promo only. None of the paying customers orders' have shipped yet. That happens in January, and those orders are being prepared professionally.
jlgreco 13y ago
Can you explain to me what the difference in purpose is between a McRib sandwich and Soylent?
- KevinEldon 13y ago
  Both the McRib and Soylent are intended to extract a price from customers in exchange for sustenance and a positive consumption experience. The McRib leans towards experience in its marketing and Soylent leans more towards sustenance. The marketing of Soylent is certainly more active these days which isn't really that surprising as the product and company have developed from a concept to a full fledged and funded company. They're affiliating themselves with claims and experiences that may be unfounded, just like the McRib implies it's a delicious BBQ pork sandwich and not processed meat (pork?) shaped to look like rib meat or how car manufactures imply that purchasing a new vehicle will improve your life substantially. Customers will decide if their product matches their claims or if the product serves enough of a function to purchase despite the fact that it may not meet all of the claims it affiliates itself with (like complete food replacement... which is a marketing affiliation, not a legal claim). If you buy Soylent and get sick because all you eat is Soylent and you don't take the necessary precautions when completely changing your diet then you're in that category of consumer that might buy Axe Body Spray and think it's going to be the sole factor that makes you attractive to female models. Marketing can be over the top and distasteful, but that doesn't relieve consumers from their responsibility to be skeptical of marketing claims and do their own research and basic risk remediation before purchasing a product.
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    Don't play coy. "McRibs taste great", "Axe make supermodels hang off you", and all variations on these are textbook puffery, and you know it.
    - KevinEldon 13y ago
      I agree and I think Soylent's indirect claims that all you might need to eat is Soylent are in the same league, but their direct claims aren't really anything more than you can eat Soylent safely. Their marketing is strong and deserves skepticism, like one might be skeptical of male enhancement products, but it doesn't need more regulation or oversight. The product will ship, people will use (some foolishly no doubt), and consumers will have more information to decide if they want to eat Soylent instead of McRibs or whatever.
DanBC 13y ago
> Why does Soylent need more scrutiny than any of these or the hundreds of thousands of other food products on the market today? An excellent question. It doesn't, it needs the same scrutiny as those products. Because they're telling the FDA that it's a supplement they get by with lower levels of regulation and inspection.
- aianus 13y ago
  Their blog post today states "Soylent is designed and regulated as a food, not a supplement."

whyenot 13y ago

> Soylent is a food The company is claiming that it is a dietary supplement and NOT food in order to avoid FDA scrutiny. At least that is what the PandoDaily article that was originally linked to claims.

aianus 13y ago
Their blog post today states "Soylent is designed and regulated as a food, not a supplement."
salemh 13y ago
This is from the actual parent article: Soylent is designed and regulated as a food, not a supplement.

oftenwrong 13y ago

Because your local Mexican restaurant doesn't claim that you can eat nothing but their tacos and maintain perfect health.

sneak 13y ago
That should not change the standards they are held to. Nobody's forcing people to eat soylent 24/7, any more than they're forcing people to eat supersized big macs for three meals a day.
- DanBC 13y ago
  Except food is held to a different standard than supplements. Soylent is regulated as a supplement, but sold and promoted as a food. People aren't asking for weird amounts of scrutiny, just for the same amount of regulation as the rest of the food chain. Seeing the filthy conditions that the beta product was made in was surprising - the founders knowing how bad it was but continuing to ship beta product to paying beta customers is weird.
  - sneak 13y ago
    None of those were paying customers - it was private, invite-only promo only. None of the paying customers orders' have shipped yet. That happens in January, and those orders are being prepared professionally.

jlgreco 13y ago

Can you explain to me what the difference in purpose is between a McRib sandwich and Soylent?

KevinEldon 13y ago
Both the McRib and Soylent are intended to extract a price from customers in exchange for sustenance and a positive consumption experience. The McRib leans towards experience in its marketing and Soylent leans more towards sustenance. The marketing of Soylent is certainly more active these days which isn't really that surprising as the product and company have developed from a concept to a full fledged and funded company. They're affiliating themselves with claims and experiences that may be unfounded, just like the McRib implies it's a delicious BBQ pork sandwich and not processed meat (pork?) shaped to look like rib meat or how car manufactures imply that purchasing a new vehicle will improve your life substantially. Customers will decide if their product matches their claims or if the product serves enough of a function to purchase despite the fact that it may not meet all of the claims it affiliates itself with (like complete food replacement... which is a marketing affiliation, not a legal claim). If you buy Soylent and get sick because all you eat is Soylent and you don't take the necessary precautions when completely changing your diet then you're in that category of consumer that might buy Axe Body Spray and think it's going to be the sole factor that makes you attractive to female models. Marketing can be over the top and distasteful, but that doesn't relieve consumers from their responsibility to be skeptical of marketing claims and do their own research and basic risk remediation before purchasing a product.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  Don't play coy. "McRibs taste great", "Axe make supermodels hang off you", and all variations on these are textbook puffery, and you know it.
  - KevinEldon 13y ago
    I agree and I think Soylent's indirect claims that all you might need to eat is Soylent are in the same league, but their direct claims aren't really anything more than you can eat Soylent safely. Their marketing is strong and deserves skepticism, like one might be skeptical of male enhancement products, but it doesn't need more regulation or oversight. The product will ship, people will use (some foolishly no doubt), and consumers will have more information to decide if they want to eat Soylent instead of McRibs or whatever.

DanBC 13y ago

> Why does Soylent need more scrutiny than any of these or the hundreds of thousands of other food products on the market today? An excellent question. It doesn't, it needs the same scrutiny as those products. Because they're telling the FDA that it's a supplement they get by with lower levels of regulation and inspection.

aianus 13y ago
Their blog post today states "Soylent is designed and regulated as a food, not a supplement."