The company is offering customers a refund and asking them to discard any bars they still have.

Soylent, a Silicon Valley startup that makes powdered and liquid meal-replacement supplements like Soylent 1.6 and 2.0, has temporarily stopped selling and shipping its Soylent Bars after reports that they made people violently ill. Soylent said customers can receive a full refund by contacting the company; if you have any remaining bars, you should discard them. The company is investigating the bars' safety but told BuzzFeed News it had not determined a cause yet. In a prepared statement, Soylent wrote, "We are deeply sorry if any customer had any negative experiences after eating a Soylent Bar." The company called the recall a "precautionary measure." Soylent previously told BuzzFeed News that it was "very confident in the safety of the bars." The bar, introduced in August 2016 (coincidentally, the same month as Samsung's recalled, exploding Galaxy Note7 phone), provides 12.5% of a person's recommended daily nutrients, according to Soylent. It may also provide nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, according to complaints from people who have eaten it.

Image from Soylent The bars are currently unavailable on Soylent's website.

Soylent has faced quality control issues before. As recently as October 2016, it delayed shipments of Soylent 2.0 because of mold. The 10,000 square foot facility that produces Soylent Bars, Betty Lou’s in McMinnville, Oregon, has not undergone a foodborne biological hazards inspection since 2014, two years before the bar was launched, according to the FDA’s online inspection database (The FDA's database covers inspections from October 1, 2008 to March 31, 2016). Soylent says the facility's last FDA inspection was in March 2016. BuzzFeed News has reached out to the FDA for comment on this discrepancy. Betty Lou's claims, however, that its latest inspection, conducted by the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) on behalf of the FDA, was on January 6, 2016. In a copy of the January report supplied to BuzzFeed News by Betty Lou's, the ODA found only that a concrete wall behind some sinks had "accumulated organic growth/mold," a minor violation. Betty Lou's facility is separate from the ones that manufacture Soylent 1.6 and 2.0. Back in 2014, the FDA for the first time classified the Oregon facility as VAI, Voluntary Action Indicated — meaning an inspection found "objectionable conditions or practices," but not ones serious enough to require mandated action. Betty Lou's and Soylent began working together four months ago, according to Bety Lou's. In a prepared statement, Betty Lou’s would not directly address the problems with Soylent bars, but denied responsibility. “We do want to assure all of our customers that the issue being mentioned on some reporting sites [about Soylent bars] did not originate from our facility,” the statement said.

FDA