Idiotic and cretinous vegan fanatics and ayatollahs…
Even when you pick an apple from its tree, chances are that you are destroying the sweet home of a lovely baby animal. Please, stop your insanity.
Well that escalated
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Tristan we’ve already said that we have tested the kelp in Huel and the methods used cannot detect any traceable amount. You can argue that there are atoms of molluscs, shellfish and crustaceans - but do you hold all your food to the same scrutiny? We are legally required to put the warning on, because they are allergens, not because they are animal products (as Dan has repeatedly explained with his insect analogy.)
Our Bars are a much more difficult product to produce and have taken longer to produce, we would have been too far along the process to include the same additions you see in v3.0. I also imagine that the NPD team want to limit the amount of addition powders going into the Bar mix to keep a good texture.
I’m not 100% sure what you’re asking. Previously our scoops didn’t match up to our serving suggestion (3 x 38g scoops = 456kcal, when our meal size was 500kcal.) We sourced a 50g scoop and now the instructions are simpler at 2 x 50g scoops = 400kcal. If you want to continue using your old scoop you absolutely can. If you want precision then scales are a better option! That’s what I do 
Interesting discussion, thanks for your points through this thread Phil. I personally think that we would still have had many upset about a price increase. As you said, there’s never a good time, but it seems most are generally happy that we haven’t put prices up in 4 years. So thank you for your understand.
It goes without saying that profit is the (less sexy) lifeblood of a business, that’s a fact, I don’t know how to respond to your suggestions we’re sneakily trying to make more money for nefarious reasons. We’ve announced it publicly on our forum and linked you through to detail about it and invited you to question us. We also emailed the information to every single powder subscriber (excl Original obviously), so we’re hardly trying to hide the fact we’re increasing the price. It’s worth noting that we weren’t profitable last year, so yes we absolutely are trying to increase profits - to something in the green.
Excuse formatting of the above. What Dan is saying is the a price increase was inevitable regardless of the upgrade to v3.0. Original makes up a very small amount of sales (dodges heckles and projectiles), so the trade off on the amount of increased profit with a price increase there wasn’t seen to be worth it.
A price increase is just one part of wider plans to improve profitability. Internally we will have to do more ourselves that won’t impact you. It would be naive of us to think a price increase is the only solution.
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I’m gonna use that…
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Yeap I agree I didn’t want the texture to change at first either. However, this is an improvement in terms of texture and mixability, there’s still that texture from the oats as they’re still the largest ingredient.
There’s less than a gram difference, you will probably find the same variation in something like tomoatoes because of the season, I wouldn’t worry.
Great suggestions! Algae oil probably would cause gut issues so best to avoid, espeically when we already have am omega-3:omega-6 ratio of 1:1. The additional prebiotics is an interesting one and certainly something we can look at. Again the issue may be gut issues if the inclusion is too high.
Yes you’re right, I should have been clearer. The risk is mainly from a reaction to touching surfaces, however mild that may be. The point is tiny amounts can cause a reaction, we want to make affected customers aware.
Yes we will have test results for caffeine when they’re returned. Alcohol we will not because it’s going to come back below testing levels, so there’s no point. You’re not going to taste it or even know it’s there in the same way alcohols may be used to extract flavours such as strawberry.
Sure can! Our suppliers have BRC and Nutritious Food Seaweed certification. Defining parameters for Nutritious Food Seaweed include:
- Single living species of documented age and freshness
- Documented physical and nutritional quality
- Traceability from end use to documented sustainable source
- Regulatory compliance for global markets
- Standard Operating Procedures, independent analysis and accreditation
- Environmental sustainability
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Wouldn’t it be more logical to keep U/U around aswel as original? Or maybe even instead of as you can flavour it with anything you like?
It would be my preferred way of Huel as a company developing new formulas to test them alongside the previous version. It would also be a great way of providing feedback to you guys by buying what we prefer.
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I hear you and I’ve badgered @Dan_Huel enough on that and have exited on the point :). I just think perception really matters here.
There wasn’t a warning saying “might contain fish” previously but now there is because of the inclusion of kelp, which appears to be there solely because it’s “natural” and I’m really confused how being forced to add the warning is better than simply sticking with the synthetic vitamin B.
Makes sense but on first glance it really does seem to call out that v3 ingredients cost more. Again, perception.
I’m happy to step away from both points and I’m not trying to be difficult here. I’ve been a Huel customer right from the start and a vocal advocate. I’ve referred hundreds of people, but this recipe update really confuses me.
I want science from Huel, I want optimum nutrition from the best sources possible. I wrote this ages ago to help dispel the natural is best rubbish from articles saying Complete Foods are dangerous because their nutrition isn’t natural, that somehow synthetic vitamins are bad purely because they’re synthetic and not wholefood based; and I can’t believe you’re giving in to that 
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That’s great to hear
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Fwiw I have absolutely no issues with the price rise, even as a lowly, ‘surviving at subsistence level’, hated by the Tories, single parent with a crappy part time civil service salary and a few ‘vegetable peeling’, lip service benefit top-ups (which I’m DEFINITELY not bitter about!), I can absorb it. I actively want Huel to thrive, I would love it to be profitable and maybe even on supermarket shelves (yeah I know RTD is but y’know). I have turned a good number of people and constantly promote it, I rarely pay full price for a subscription 
. I just hope the new version is as good and I tolerate it as well. My concerns have been related to fear because my wellbeing is quite tied up in Huel right now. It has really changed my life in the last year, I could barely eat and had gut pain daily. I swear I’m not trying to find problems. Thanks for addressing my queries officials.
PS. Pistachio flavour shot 
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I agree with those that have mentioned keeping U/U v2.3 as an option. It’s the only way I’ll be able to continue using Huel. I understand Original v2.3 will be available, but that’s no use to those of us that can’t have sweeteners.
Some of these changes really do seem backwards, unfortunately.
Kombucha - alcohol/caffeine (no matter how small the amount) should be substances that we get to choose whether we use! I really hope you reconsider this ingredient.
Kelp - I really wish I was a fly on the wall when the conversations took place on this one. 
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I must say I am glad Original is continuing unchanged and agree with those who would like to see UU do the same.
Being on Huel has drastically reduced my IBS symptoms and for this I am extremely grateful. I will try the new v3.0 at some stage after it is launched but it will be good to know there is an unchanged product or two to fall back on if necessary.
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I also don’t like the addition of tapioca.
If you want a smoother texture that mixes better then just start using more finely grained oats. Jimmy Joy also made their product like 5 times smoother by just using more finely grained oats. They went a bit too far and had to start using slightly less fine (but still very fine grained) oats as the drink became too smooth.
Of course tapioca is the cheap option as slightly finer oats are more expensive. It’s just very hard for me to understand putting in empty calories (which according to the article makes at least 6% of the total ingredients). Just raise the price a bit more by buying higher quality oats… I would prefer that.
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@Dan_Huel Why tapioca starch instead grained oats? I like the fact of increasing the smoothness, but not if we reduce the nutrition quality.
Can you explain this? Its the only issue I find in the 3.0. Thanks in advance
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where do you get that information? - if you look at current prices with agricultural commodities brokers - tapioca starch is almost twice as expensive
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Nothing against Jimmy Joy but that’s a bit misleading as maltodextrin is the third-highest ingredient in their formula which brings that smooth texture at the expense of a high glyceamic index.
Yeah sure. I have been half answering this so I will go direct this time. Huel is so great nutritionally but only if you consume it. We’ve worked hard to improve the texture and flavours. No one likes change at first I know and I thought the same but it’s a big improvement.
We’ve massively improved the sourcing of our ingredients and their quality (shout out to the Ops team). This means that there is an increase in the amount of micronutrients they bring. So you’ll see with the updated articles that actually the 6 (7 now) main ingredients are bringing more nutritional value than before.
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All prices rise everywhere,it’s inevitable. But we payers are sure to moan about it, that’s inevitable too. We must bear the pain of the price rise, and Huel must bear the moaning. But it’s a good thing that Huel exists, isn’t it?
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Only Jimmy Joy’s Active is comparable to Huel because of the macros and it has no maltodextrin. The Active line which has always been maltodextrin free also became smoother because their started using more finely grained oats.
Tapioca is almost pure starch, so it’s almost entirely made up of carbs.
It contains only minor amounts of protein, fat and fiber.
Furthermore, it only contains minor amounts of nutrients. Most of them amount to less than 0.1% of the recommended daily amount in one serving (1Trusted Source, 3).
One ounce (28 grams) of dry tapioca pearls contains 100 calories (3).
Due to its lack of protein and nutrients, tapioca is nutritionally inferior to most grains and flours (1Trusted Source).
In fact, tapioca can be considered as “empty” calories. It provides energy with almost no essential nutrients.
So let me get this straight…Huel is already covering all the nutrients so Tapioca making 6-10% of the total ingredients is fine? 6-10% of Huel being empty calories just kind of seems off for me.
Also, that 6-10% is guesswork as the ingredient right after Tapioca makes 5.9% of the total ingredients so Tapioca must be at least 6%.
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The problem is you need a big pay rise every year to keep up, which we don’t get, with the rising cost of living like rent and council tax it’s hard going. It was better in the 1990’s I think, well it was for me anyhow.
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Huel is a lot cheaper for Brits than for Europeans so at least you have that going for you. 
The RTD is produced in Austria and Europeans still pay a lot more for it than Brits.