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Sorry Canada, But The Government Has Banned Soylent From The Country

Apparently it's not a "real meal."
Soylent CEO Rob Rhinehart pours maltodextrin into a bag on Sept. 9, 2013. (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
Soylent CEO Rob Rhinehart pours maltodextrin into a bag on Sept. 9, 2013. (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)

If you're Canadian and have no interest in food, you'll have some interest in this news: Soylent, the meal replacement that allows people to drink their meals, can no longer be sold in Canada.

The product, which launched in the U.S. in 2013 to plenty of fanfare (we even did a five-day experiment with the stuff when it came to Canada in 2015), has now been deemed ineligible as a "meal replacement" in the country, according to a letter from CEO Rob Rhinehart:

"The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recently informed us that our products do not meet a select few of the CFIA requirements for a 'meal replacement," he wrote on the site. "Although we feel strongly that these requirements do not reflect the current understanding of human nutritional needs, we respect the CFIA's regulations and will fully comply with any regulatory action they deem appropriate. Unfortunately, this means we are unable to ship any additional product to our Canadian warehouses or sell Soylent to our Canadian customers until this is resolved."

A tub of potassium gluconate is seen on a production table at the Soylent corporate office on Sept. 9, 2013. (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
A tub of potassium gluconate is seen on a production table at the Soylent corporate office on Sept. 9, 2013. (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)

Soylent is beloved in Silicon Valley for its ease-of-use, as well as getting down to the essentials of nutrition — which might explain that barb directed towards that CFIA's "understanding" of the process.

In a statement sent to Gizmodo on the matter, the CFIA noted that "[as] part of routine import inspection activities, the CFIA identified that certain Soylent products were not in compliance with the Food and Drug Regulations with regard to meal replacements."

It also stated that any products already in the country did not have to be pulled from shelves, as there was no "immediate health risk for consumers."

We're going to let you interpret that information for yourself.

The CFIA has plenty of regulations around what qualifies as a meal replacement, so it's not immediately clear which part of Soylent's makeup was the issue.

Last year, the agency recalled food bars made by Soylent after the company received complaints of gastrointestinal problems after eating them.

And for those seeking alternatives to Soylent, all is not lost. A Reddit thread from 2016 recommended Hol Food and Biolent, both Canadian-made products that assumedly have already passed all manner of CFIA rules.

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