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Gotten away with it? Have they been lying about something? If people don't buy their products, they'll leave the market. If people continue to buy them, they

by mstodd 10y ago

Gotten away with it? Have they been lying about something? If people don't buy their products, they'll leave the market. If people continue to buy them, they'll stay. I really hope the FDA doesn't get involved. As it is a low cost source of nutrition, more regulation will raise the price with no corresponding added benefit to the consumer; affecting the people who may be the most vulnerable to price increases.

Pitarou 10y ago
There are people who believe that market forces are the only product safety regulation we need. If that's your philosophy, we're clearly never going to agree. But if you DO believe that some level of consumer protection beyond honest labelling is appropriate, then I think I can make a case that a product like Soylent should be regulated a little more than other foodstuffs. Please see the other threads of this discussion if you'd like to pursue that idea further.
- jacobolus 10y ago
  I’m no Soylent advocate (I’m a fan of home-cooked fresh food). But... The mainstream US diet and lifestyle causes unbelievable health problems: obesity, heart disease, liver damage, dental caries, gastrointestinal conditions, some chronic anxiety, skin conditions, possibly some kinds of dementia, osteoporosis, seasonal affective disorder, and on and on.. Modern governments come absolutely nowhere close to teaching people to eat a balanced diet of healthy foods or setting policy to discourage unhealthy foods. Indeed, often official policy does just the opposite. Compared to soda, fruit juice, beer, cookies, donuts, chips, breakfast cereal, instant noodles, packaged dinners, etc. etc., a few people having temporary digestive problems for a few days before discontinuing their liquid meal-replacement diet because they turned out to have an algae allergy is really the least of our problems. The main thing our food safety institutions do is prevent disease outbreaks and dangerous food contamination. They aren’t set up to have a meaningful effect on people’s overall diet.
  - cel1ne 10y ago
    Sorry to be so bleak, but I don't think Soylent is "set up to have a meaningful effect on people’s overall diet. The people you are talking about never heard about Soylent, and probably won't ever buy an expensive (?), bland tasting product that sounds like something from Star-Trek.
    - jacobolus 10y ago
      I agree. My point is just that having the FDA ban Soylent isn’t going to help any of these people either. If the FDA were reorganized to significantly reduce the amount of soda, cookies, chips, and candy people ate, that would have a much more useful effect.
  - Pitarou 10y ago
    You make a very good point. We are straining out the gnat and swallowing the camel.

by mstodd 10y ago

Pitarou 10y ago

There are people who believe that market forces are the only product safety regulation we need. If that's your philosophy, we're clearly never going to agree. But if you DO believe that some level of consumer protection beyond honest labelling is appropriate, then I think I can make a case that a product like Soylent should be regulated a little more than other foodstuffs. Please see the other threads of this discussion if you'd like to pursue that idea further.

jacobolus 10y ago
I’m no Soylent advocate (I’m a fan of home-cooked fresh food). But... The mainstream US diet and lifestyle causes unbelievable health problems: obesity, heart disease, liver damage, dental caries, gastrointestinal conditions, some chronic anxiety, skin conditions, possibly some kinds of dementia, osteoporosis, seasonal affective disorder, and on and on.. Modern governments come absolutely nowhere close to teaching people to eat a balanced diet of healthy foods or setting policy to discourage unhealthy foods. Indeed, often official policy does just the opposite. Compared to soda, fruit juice, beer, cookies, donuts, chips, breakfast cereal, instant noodles, packaged dinners, etc. etc., a few people having temporary digestive problems for a few days before discontinuing their liquid meal-replacement diet because they turned out to have an algae allergy is really the least of our problems. The main thing our food safety institutions do is prevent disease outbreaks and dangerous food contamination. They aren’t set up to have a meaningful effect on people’s overall diet.
- cel1ne 10y ago
  Sorry to be so bleak, but I don't think Soylent is "set up to have a meaningful effect on people’s overall diet. The people you are talking about never heard about Soylent, and probably won't ever buy an expensive (?), bland tasting product that sounds like something from Star-Trek.
  - jacobolus 10y ago
    I agree. My point is just that having the FDA ban Soylent isn’t going to help any of these people either. If the FDA were reorganized to significantly reduce the amount of soda, cookies, chips, and candy people ate, that would have a much more useful effect.
- Pitarou 10y ago
  You make a very good point. We are straining out the gnat and swallowing the camel.