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Soylent Halts Sale of Bars; Investigation Into Illnesses Continues (arstechnica.com)
Beth Mole, reporting for ArsTechnica:Following online reports of customers becoming ill after eating Soylent's new snack bars, the company announced this afternoon that it has decided to halt all sales and shipments of the bars as a precautionary measure
. The company is urging customers to discard remaining bars and will begin e-mailing customers individually regarding refunds. In a blog announcing the decision, the company said it is still investigating the cause of bouts of illnesses of customers linked to the bars, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. "After hearing from our customers, we immediately began investigating the cause of the issue and whether it was linked to a problem with the Bars," the company said. "So far we have not yet identified one and this issue does not appear to affect our other drinks and powder. Though our investigation into this matter continues, we have decided to err on the side of caution and take this preventative step."
That's what makes them sick!
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Rebrand the bars as laxatives!
I actually ate through a box of these bars not long ago - finished the last one about two weeks ago. I kept blaming my daughter for not washing the dishes correctly and giving me dysentery via food debris (this actually happens, at least the food debris part). But maybe it was the bars? Who knows - I never will, now.
The bars are too caramel tasting anyway. I was really hoping for a bar that tasted like Soylent - like almost nothing at all.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Right up there with Lay's WOW chips and Haribo sugar free gummy bears (read the reviews, they're hilarious and disgusting)
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
NGREDIENTS: Soy Protein Isolate, Corn Syrup, Rolled Oat, Canola Oil, Glycerine, Whole Algal Flour, Isomaltooligosaccharide, Isomaltulose, Maltodextrin, Water, Dicalcium Phosphate Anhydrous, Soy Lecithin, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Salt, Tapioca Starch, Sunflower Oil, Dipo- tassium Phosphate, Modified Food Starch, Po- tassium Chloride, Choline Bitartrate, Mixed Tocopherol, Sucralose, Mono & Diglycerides, Magnesium Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, dl-alpha-To- copheryl Acetate, Tricalcium Phosphate Anhy- drous, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Nia- cinamide, Zinc Oxide, Copper Gluconate, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Potassium Iodide, Riboflavin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D2, Chromium Chloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Sodium Selenite, Sodium Molybdate, Phytonadione, Vitamin B12. Contains: Soy
hmmm... exactly how much glycerin are they using?
Ingredients ...
are obtained
from genetically
engineered
sources
OH GOD NOES! RUN FOR THE HILLS! SCIENCE!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
There was an episode about Soylent on VICE a little bit back. Their facility was just an empty concrete building with plastic tubs of ingredients and the closest thing to health precautions being plastic sheeting thrown up in one area. They also saw rats in the building there, so I really wouldn't be surprised if they got contaminated.
If they are being honest in their statement, then I'm impressed to see a company in this day and age take such steps. However the cynical side of me wonders if they knew/know what's happening and they're attempting damage control until they figure out what to do next.
Your cynicism is misplaced. Having worked in the packaged food industry before, voluntary recalls happen quite a bit and never make headlines as food is tested all the way down the supply chain. The tests include both on the spot testing and a sample taken, stored, and tested later to replicate the entire life cycle of the product and see what's happening. If the follow up sample test fails, the batch is recalled even if it's taken off the shelf at the grocery store.
Food scares still happen and occasionally they slip through the system. But it happens 20 times for every one time you hear about it in the news, but the company catches it before it's ready to be sold and distributed. Many companies are quite good at this, but that's not going to make the news so you'll never hear about it.
"My guess would be... a lot." -Cameron Poe
So four of the top six ingredients by weight all will nauseate the average human in sufficiently high concentrations. I think we've found the culprit.
Hell, they might as well have named the damn things Vomit Bars...