This entry is part 88 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

TL;DR: we’ve pulled Vanilla 2.0 and it’s going to be re-mixed, it’ll be a few weeks before we have Vanilla in stock. The other flavors coming next week appear to be just fine.

I was super happy to have Vanilla Keto Chow 2.0 in stock and available. I regularly do quality control on the product so I grabbed a bag of Vanilla 2.0 and mixed up 6, I could tell immediately that there was a problem – the viscosity (thickness) was all wrong. Instead of being thick like a milk shake it was thin like milk or a protein shake. I let it sit overnight and it was still thin in the morning. It tastes the same, and nutritionally it’s not a problem – all the xanthan gum does is increase viscosity.

So, I spent the day driving back and forth to the manufacturer figuring stuff out. They definitely added xanthan gum to the mix – each batch goes through a pretty meticulous quality control procedure:

  • The formula is multiplied out into the size batch they need and the total mass required in kilograms for each ingredient is put onto a tracking sheet
  • As each ingredient is weighed out, the technician notes the reading on the scale, initials the reading and a second technician initials that it was correctly done
  • the total batch weight is compared to the target weight
  • they routinely verify their inventory based on what they brought in minus what was supposed to be used.

The batch for Vanilla should have used around 9 Kg of xanthan gum – that’s roughly 20lbs. The final weight was within 0.01kg of the target.

So we’re not sure what is going on with Vanilla – the only difference between it and most other flavors is color (or lack thereof) and the flavor mix. The end result is we yanked Vanilla from the site and zeroed out the inventory. All this got me spooked that the other flavors might have similar problems, Chocolate is fine but Cookies & Cream along with Salted Caramel are going into bagging early next week. So that was my first trip down there. I brought two blender bottles with the right amount of water and heavy cream and mixed them up right there. Viscosity is perfect on Cookies & Cream as well as Salted Caramel. We discussed several options and ultimately it was decided that they are going to re-do the batch. So I drove back down, this time with all of the remaining Vanilla 2.0. We’re going to have to get new bags printed which may slow things down some. I expect the earliest we’ll see Vanilla 2.0 will be 3-4 weeks from now (early to late June 2017).

Anybody who was shipped Vanilla 2.0 should have gotten an email from me earlier today with options for what they want to do. One thing I forgot in the email was that if they choose to keep the Vanilla and happen to have xanthan gum on hand (or if they want to order some using the refunds) it just needs 1.3g of xanthan gum in 44.1g of vanilla and you have the right viscosity – I tested it myself =) If you happened to have ordered Vanilla 2.0 and didn’t see an email from me, I’ll be following up with those that haven’t responded yet.

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