Soylent Bars: Was The Algae Flour In Them Making People Uncontrollably Sick?

 A few weeks ago, meal replacement company, Soylent was all over the news as customers reported that their Soylent Bar were making them uncontrollably sick. Now, the company has claimed to have found the reason behind the gastrointestinal issues; algae.

The Background

Soylent, which calls itself a ‘future of food; company manufactures Soylent powder, a Soylent drink and Soylent bars, all of which are said to have all the nutritional requirements a human needs.

However, following the launch of the Soylent Bars, people began falling sick. One man said to The Guardian “I thought I was suddenly having something like a sugar crash, but an emergency-level sugar crash like I’d never felt before… I seemingly emptied out my entire stomach and realized that this was probably the worst I had felt in my entire life. I then also had diarrhea.”

Soylent then went on to recall the bars, and, after investigating, now claims that the reason people were falling sick was because of algae in the bars.

What’s Algae Doing In My Food?

Soylent’s products are made using ingredients like creatine, sulfur and agae-based flour which is a “step towards sustainable food production”. However, a particular batch of algae flour which was provided by TerraVia, a Biotech company is reportedly the cause of the host of problems.

Soylent founder Rob Rhinehart has confirmed that the powder has been removed from the formulation of the product. Soylent will be releasing a new batch of bars, made with the new formulation early next year.