U/U Huel gross or just rancid?

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Hi all,

I ordered my first batch of Huel recently. I’ve been drinking Super Body Fuel products for awhile, and then started mixing my own shakes, but I wanted to give Huel a shot, so I ordered two bags of unflavored/unsweetened expecting to be able to deal with a bland, oat-shake product or just sweeten it myself.

On first taste, I mixed it with water raw, and it does taste like oats, but it also has a slight funky sour taste. I figured maybe that’s just what some of the vitamin mix tastes like, and figured that’s what I get for drinking an unsweetened meal replacement.

For my next batch, I blended Huel with frozen berries (making 4 shakes) and left them in the fridge overnight. The next day, I tried drinking it and that sour taste was still present, but now overwhelmingly so. The berries were not perceptible in comparison. Worse, I got a headache and my body had a really bad reaction to it (shortness of breath, feels like food stuck in my throat, sweats…). I’d probably consumed 1/4 scoop at this point. I assumed maybe that shake was bad and threw it out.

I had a second shake prepared the same way, drank it more slowly, and had similar symptoms. I notice that this shake smells overwhelmingly sour (and maybe rancid?) to me (the smell made me retch), so I threw it out.

I had two of my roommates try the shake. They hated it, but didn’t detect the off, sour taste that I had noticed. They also weren’t as sensitive to the smell.

I threw the other two shakes out and figured maybe I’d try mixing a small amount with water. It tastes and smells a lot less bad this way. It still has a slight sour taste, but it definitely doesn’t have that rancid smell. My impression is that leaving the Huel in water overnight caused it to become toxic in some way.

The bag of powdered Huel itself doesn’t have that overwhelming sour smell.

My batch number is 95057. Both bags I received are from that batch. I haven’t tried the second bag yet.

So, my questions are…

  • Does U/U Huel normally have a bit of a sour/bitter taste?
  • Does anyone know why mixing Huel in this morning might cause it to become toxic?
  • Is this just a bad bag/batch?

Thanks for any insight you can provide. I was pretty hyped for Huel, but this was a pretty bad first experience for me.

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Thanks for your sensible reaction to a bad experience. I use U/U Huel and have lately been consuming 120g/400mL water and no additives. I haven’t had any bitter or sour taste, nor had any GI distress.

I expect any of the moderators who see this should be able to correct this issue to your satisfaction; either another U/U or a sweetened/flavored version.

If you do give it another go and experience a similar reaction, please update this thread because it would be good science to have a follow up. :slight_smile:

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Really sad to hear this David.

You’re right unflavoured/unsweetened should just taste bland and oaty, some people can taste a bit of the pea protein but nothing major.

I’d always recommend adding something to U/U as oats, flaxseed, MCT powder etc on their own do not have much of a taste to enjoy.

It’s odd that your roommates didn’t notice the sour taste that you did.

Doesn’t matter anyway, it’s not right so we are going to do something about it.

It would be great if you could send the pouches back to us.

I’m going to drop you a private message with the address shortly so you can get this over to us and we can investigate.

We will of course refund the postage costs just send over a photo of your packing slip in a reply to my message.

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