Yfood defends itself against accusations of advertising lies by Foodwatch

Many products that attract attention in the “Lion’s Den” are quickly forgotten. This is not the case with the Yfood drink meal, which is intended to replace a full meal for all those who cannot find time to eat. When Benjamin Kremer and Noel Boellmann appeared in the start-up show in 2018, Yfood was still a small start-up. Today the bottles are sold in countless supermarkets and other shops.

According to the “Lebensmittelzeitung”, sales last year were an enormous 120 million euros. This also convinced the Nestlé Group, which recently took over almost 50 percent of the shares in Yfood. Investor Frank Thelen, who got involved in the course of the “Lion’s Den”, has meanwhile sold his shares again. The two founders still manage the operative business.

Yfood nominated for Golden Cream Puff

However, the consumer organization Foodwatch cannot take credit for the success of the drinking meal. She nominated Yfood as one of five products for the “Golden Cream Puff” this week. With this shameful award, Foodwatch honors the “boldest advertising lie of the year”, which is voted on online by consumers.

In the eyes of Foodwatch, Yfood is basically just “expensive milk with a few additives”. And Foodwatch does not consider the product to be healthy at all. The organization quotes nutritionist Alice Luttropp as saying that Yfood does not have a good hair.

“In my view, it is absurd to sell Yfood as a wholesome meal,” says Luttropp. “It is a highly processed, industrially manufactured product. It contains a lot of sugar and has a very high calorie density. A 500ml bottle contains at least 500 kilocalories. It is drunk quickly. However, a feeling of satiety only sets in after about 20 minutes. In the So in the short amount of time it takes to drink the drink, I may be consuming more calories than I’m hungry for.”

The added vitamins and minerals are also not a full substitute for fresh food because it is better for the body to absorb vitamins from natural foods.

As Yfood replies

The start-up, spoiled by success, had to let this broadside sink in first. One day after the cream puff nomination, Yfood responded in detail to the allegations. “Admittedly, we were quite surprised when we found out about our nomination through the media,” it says at the beginning. In the following, Yfood tries to refute the allegations in detail.

When the product was accused of being overpriced, Yfood replied that the drinking meals were the “result of years of research and development”. At this price (a half-litre bottle costs around 4 euros in stores), only fast-food alternatives such as the doner kebab could fill you up and taste good.

Yfood is still convinced of the composition of the drink. A bottle contains at least 25 percent of the daily micronutrient requirement. Nevertheless, Yfood also expressly says: “We do not intend Yfood to completely replace nutrition. A diverse and varied diet with fresh and high-quality food is the ultimate and should always remain your first choice.” The product is an alternative for stressful everyday situations “in which we fall back into bad eating habits due to lack of time”.

Another point of discussion is the Nutri-Score. According to Foodwatch, Yfood will soon lose its green “A” rating as part of the changed assessment rules and will be given a red “E”. Yfood writes that the product actually deserved the worst category “E” by the standards for beverages. If, on the other hand, it were classified as a foodstuff, it could retain the “A” grade.

Yfood does not consider the contained sugar and sweetener to be problematic. The sugar is natural sugar, not added. The decisive factor is that the product does not allow the blood sugar level to rise quickly because of the low glycemic index. However, Yfood is by no means intended for weight loss. Yfood itself warns: “Drinking meals are not diet drinks.”