Sorry Canada. No Soylent For You
Canadian fans of the tech-industries’ favorite liquid meal just got some bad news.
The maker of Soylent yogurt-like drinks and dietary powders said that Canadian regulators don’t consider its products to be alternatives to conventional meals and that its food is therefore banned.
Rob Rhinehart, CEO of Rosa Foods, which produces Soylent, disclosed Tuesday that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency told his company that Soylent products fail to meet requirements as a “meal replacement.”
The CEO, who did not say what those requirements were, disagreed with the decision, saying in a posting on the company’s website that “these requirements do not reflect the current understanding of human nutritional needs.” The company said it would stop shipping its products to Canada “until this is resolved.”
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“I want to reiterate that we are absolutely committed to working with Health Canada and the CFIA to resolve this as quickly as possible, but we don’t have enough information at this time to share any timing,” he wrote. “In order to keep all of you fully up to speed on our progress, we will be sending out regular updates.”
Backed by some of tech industry’s biggest venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz and GV (formerly Google Ventures), Rosa Foods’ Soylent brand of food products became hits with Silicon Valley techies who want a quick meal between long-work hours.
In July, the company said that its Soylent drinks, which have a viscous texture and a peculiar taste to some users, would be available at 18 7-Eleven stores around Los Angeles.
