Soylent’s whitewashing on use of GMOs angers ag journal

By Ken Roseboro

Published: December 7, 2021

Category: GMO News

Meal replacement maker backtracks from “proudly made with GMOs” to no mention of GMOs on its website

When Soylent meal replacement drink was introduced in 2014, the company heavily promoted the fact that the product was made using genetically engineered ingredients including GMO soy protein. The company touted the product as “Proudly made with GMOs” on its website.

But in recent years, Soylent has completely removed any reference to the use of GMOs in its products from its website. This backtracking on the promotion of genetic engineering has raised the ire of the agricultural website, AgDaily. In an editorial, AgDaily’s managing editor Ryan Tipps has criticized Soylent for whitewashing the use of GMOs in the product.

In the editorial, titled “Have biotech advocates lost Soylent as an ally in the food industry?” Tipps wrote that the company’s pro-GMO approach had been instrumental to their marketing and it wasn’t long ago that then-CEO Bryan Crowley observed that the public was becoming more accepting of genetic engineering. But that has changed according to Tipps, who wrote: “But to look at Soylent now, under CEO Demir Vangelov, all mentions of ‘genetic engineering’ or ‘GMOs’ have been scrubbed from their website—the company’s blog post that was titled ‘Proudly Made With GMOs’ has been taken down, as has the Soylent Help Center page titled ‘Why is Soylent made with GMOs?’ ”

According to Tipps, a discussion on Reddit indicated that Soylent is “wilting away from sound science” and “dumbing down their approach in order to make a profit—even if the company still uses genetically engineered soybeans without disclosing it as prominently.”

Tipps said he reached out to Soylent many times through social media and the company’s website and marketing department but got no response, leading him to conclude that “GMOs seem to be a topic that no one there is willing to discuss.”

Soylent has been controversial since its introduction in 2014. The product’s name is the same as that of food source made from human remains, Soylent Green, in a 1973 movie about a dystopian future. In 2016, the company ordered a recall of its Soylent bars after people reported gastrointestinal illness, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea after eating the product.

Source: AgDaily

To view source article, visit:

https://www.agdaily.com/lifestyle/biotech-lost-soylent-major-ally-food-industry/

Organic & Non-GMO Insights December 2021

About the Author

Ken Roseboro

Ken Roseboro has been called “the nation’s reporter on all issues surrounding genetically modified foods” by Acres USA magazine. He has written extensively about GM foods and the non-GMO trend since 1999. Ken’s articles have appeared in leading food and agriculture publications and websites such as Civil Eats, Harvest Public Media, Prepared Foods, Natural Foods Merchandiser, Food Processing, as well as The Huffington Post, Yahoo News, Mother Earth News, and others. He is a contributing editor to EcoWatch. Ken is author of Genetically Altered Foods and Your Health and The Organic Food Handbook both published by Basic Health Publications. He has spoken at many conferences including Natural Products Expo West, Acres USA Conference, The Organic Farming Conference, National Heirloom Seed Expo, and others. Ken is a member of the design team of the Non-GMO Supply Working Group and a founding member of the board of directors of the Iowa Organic Association. Ken also serves on the board of directors of Soil Technologies Corporation. He appears in the award-winning documentary film, GMO OMG. In 2006, Ken received an Award of Merit from Seed Savers Exchange for his efforts to preserve genetic diversity through his publications.