Canada just banned Soylent, Silicon Valley's favorite meal replacement shake

Canada has banned Soylent, the meal-replacement food created by a buzzy Silicon Valley startup.

News of Soylent's ban in the country broke when Rosa Foods CEO Rob Rhinehart published a letter on the company's blog, after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (Canada's version of the FDA) told the company that their product, Soylent, didn't comply with national requirements for what constitutes a "meal replacement," which Soylent identifies itself as. Wrote CEO Rob Reinehart:

"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." He continued: "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."

Rhinehart also noted that the company will continue to work with Canada's food regulator to try to make Soylent available again.

Soylent burst onto the startup scene in 2013, heralded by some as the "future of food." The shakes are meant to be an easy and cheap way for people to consume many of their necessary calories and nutrients.

Along the way, the company's shakes have become synonymous with Silicon Valley's disruption-at-all-costs ethos. It even got added to the intro on HBO's Silicon Valley.

The ban means Soylent can't be shipped to Canada, and any Soylent already in Canada can't be sold. Soylent's Canadian subscribers won't be charged during the ban, Rhinehart noted.

Rhinehart also clarified that CIFA told Rosa Foods of the ban in early October, but that the company had been working to try to find a solution. Until that happens, Soylent's Canadian subscribers will just have to...not drink Soylent. And go with meal replacement-replacements. Or, as we call it everywhere else in the world, food.