About 4-5 years ago I switched the brand of whey I used because my previously preferred brand developed a tendency for occasional batches to have this really off putting chemically taste I could probably best describe as soapy. It was very occasional, but happened often enough over a multi year span than I developed concern over it so switched. I get my whey from a pretty well known manufacturer and have been very satisfied with them up until now. But my latest purchase has the same problem. The fact the same issue has cropped up in two different brands tells me it is not a random screw up but something that can go wrong in whey manufacturing.
Have you ever encountered this? Do you have any idea what it is/where it comes from? As someone in the manufacturing space, what would this say to you about the acceptability of their QA processes?
We haven’t had it happen with our whey protein, but I have experienced it with other companies. There aren’t that many supplement companies that make their own protein. Rather, a small number of manufacturers supply all of the brands.
Usually that “chemical” taste is from uneven mixing of ingredients, particularly flavorings. Other sources include contaminated raw ingredients, contaminated machinery, or post production contamination. The first two are almost always picked up in QC testing, provided the manufacturer does this of course. The latter is the biggest concern, as there’s little in the way for pre-market QC here.
Awhile ago, we had a few customers receive clumpy periRx from a specific batch. We replaced all the affected customers and then tested the batch again. It was clean, so we think something either happened in shipping or the climate controlled storage that affected a few of the tubs.