Comment by MicroBerto | Hacker News Reader

Comment by MicroBerto | Hacker News Reader

This is a similar issue we had in the protein powder industry with amino acid spiking.[1]

TL;DR is that companies were putting cheap filler aminos like taurine and glycine into protein powders, which would pass as nitrogen on a "protein" test, but they were far cheaper and less effective than actual whey protein.

A lot of times the companies would think they were getting legit raw materials, but if they didn't test their incoming raws (illegal per cGMP), they could easily get screwed by the cheap crap coming in from China.

It's expensive to test for ($2000 for a full amino panel), but once the bad guys started getting discovered, the class action lawsuits hit hard. One multi-million dollar settlement's already been public.

Olive oil companies are wise not to get caught doing this, especially the bigger ones with deep pockets (a class-action lawyer's dream). Always test your incoming and outgoing product. If you blindly trust that overseas manufacturer's lab tests, get ready to get destroyed.

[1] https://blog.priceplow.com/protein-scam-amino-acid-spiking

See also the 2008 Baby Milk Scandal[1] in China, where surplus Melamine was added, which fooled basic tests.

Even more astounding when you realise the penalties for such actions there, 2 of the people involved were executed, one received a life sentence and several more lengthy jail spells.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal

$2000? UC Davis will do an amino acid analysis for 60 bucks. At that price a serious protein powder consumer could routinely send them a sample.

http://www.chem.ucla.edu/dept/Faculty/merchant/pdf/Amino%20a...

For each individual free-form amino acid as well? Also testing for the stuff not typically found in protein, like creatine, taurine, betaine, beta alanine, and anything else that may trigger a nitrogen count? Doubtful, but I'd be happy to contact them.

Are you saying that cGMP makes it illegal to test imported raw ingredients, or that it's illegal to not test? (sad that one has to ask this, but such seems to be the state of food regulation in the U.S.).

I had always assumed that protein powder was derived from waste products that were created during other food processing. Why would someone use protein powder when there are other good sources of protein?

Many good protein sources also contain not protein.

What does that mean, out of curiosity? Do you mean vegetarian protein which is harder to absorb?

Carbohydrates, etc. Not everybody wants to live on a diet of egg whites. :)

Back in the day, they used to throw the whey out. It was the curds they wanted for cheese.

Times have definitely changed. Whey is in everywhere, even in oreos. Demand got out of control cerca 2012, which led to all the spiking.

One of the major instant shockwaves to the market was the launch of Gatorade Recovery drinks. And that was on top of the general movement towards high-protein diets (a good thing). Took the market quite a while to recover from that, pardon the pun.

Regarding your question... if you have a high-protein diet, it's a nice convenience to throw a scoop or two in. You ever try to get 225-250g protein per day without using shakes, day in and day out? Gets tiring.

Here in Norway, we've never thrown away the whey. It's been used for centuries to produce "brown cheese", a delicious sweet semi-soft "cheese". Wonderful on waffles. It's the first thing ex-pat Norwegians ask you to send them.

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