Two weeks ago, meal replacement company Soylent stopped all sales and shipments of its Food Bars after some customers reported stomach problems that included severe stomach pain, intense vomiting and “uncontrollable” diarrhoea. Now, it appears that Soylent’s flagship Powder is also making people ill.
In a blog post yesterday, the company announced that it was pulling the powder from shelves after a “handful” of users experienced symptoms similar to those of Food Bar customers. Having tested the products for toxins, pathogens and outside contamination, Soylent said it is now investigating if an ingredient specific to the latest formulation of the Powder is triggering a food intolerance.
“We are going to continue to look into this further and share our findings with the FDA so that they can do their own evaluation,” said the company. “Fitting with our desire to err on the side of caution, we are reformulating Bar and Powder 1.6 to remove the likely ingredients. Turnaround should be fairly quick. We expect both will available in early Q1 2017, if not before.”
While Soylent previously advised customers to discard any remaining Food Bars, the company was less strict regarding remaining powder.
“If you have used Powder 1.6 without incident, we see no reason to stop enjoying it,” said Soylent. “But if you have had any sensitivities, we suggest discarding whatever is left and letting us know at info@soylent.com.”
According to the company, Soylent Drink and Coffiest customers have not reported similar complaints.