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Why can't you reverse engineer ingredients of commercial beverages?

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wildfyr:
I know you think we are a bunch of killjoys but deformulating a beverage, especially one likely with a lot of plant derived ingredients, is really difficult. Like, there are labs full of PhDs at Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc who have been doing for this for decades and have every necessary instrument and it still is a real project for them to take apart a competitors formula.

Borek:
Also note that even knowing what is the composition is not necessarily a recipe for replication - especially in the case of things made with the biological process like fermentation.

Yes, in theory mixing exactly the same chemicals as detected in the same concentrations will reproduce exactly the same solution, but it can be for many reasons impractical - some of the compounds can be prohibitively expensive to buy in a form pure enough. The best way to reproduce the original taste is to repeat exact procedure using exact products - and while definitely knowing the chemical composition of the beverage gives some hints, it won't answer questions like "how long", "in what temperature" etc.

Plus, even knowing exact recipe is not guaranteed to yield the same taste, as many things have changed in the meantime - we are growing different varieties of all plants involved, we use slightly different yeast and bacterial cultures, that all influences the final taste making the reverse engineering extremely difficult, if not impossible.

hanamark:

--- Quote from: Ben Klesc on July 27, 2021, 06:51:39 PM ---
--- Quote from: Corribus on July 27, 2021, 04:55:48 PM ---Not to dampen your enthusiasm, but it looks like you are just listing a lot of random instruments. Half of those won't do anything for your purpose, which makes me think you don't know what they are, which makes me think you don't know what you're doing.
--- End quote ---

I have never attempted to reverse engineer ingredients before. Now that I've been pressed on this, one of the companies I tried is Avermeen. Off their website they write a list of equipment they use for deforumulation. I'm trying to get a gauge here if this is something that would be possible to do yourself in the home and what equipment I would be able to purchase if I wouldn't be able to pay someone else to do it. I'm not a professional, don't have a lab but may be able to use the university's lab. Thought it would make a fun school day project.

What instruments are typically used during a deformulation analysis?

https://www.avomeen.com/scientific-applications/product-deformulation-service/snow rider 3d

Just looking online I'm finding gas spectrometers for under three grand. Again this is all hypothetical and fantasy, and not talking about seriously doing this. Just flirting with the idea and seeing what others think about it. The seal itself is in a glass bottle with a cork.


--- Quote from: Corribus on July 27, 2021, 04:55:48 PM ---And finally there's also the likelihood that, even if you somehow pull off a miracle and manage to decode whatever is in the bottle, there's a good chance what's in there now isn't what was in there originally. Chemistry doesn't stop because a container is sealed - assuming the seal, usually made of rubber, is still even good - and 70 years is a long time for chemistry to happen. This is particularly the case if the container is glass, the glass is transparent, and the bottle wasn't stored in absolute darkness and low temperature.
--- End quote ---

That's very much what I was inquiring about and that is what I believed. The bottle has been in possession of one owner in their temperature controlled room but it is 70+ years old clear glass. I'm not even sure how accurate it would be if I did somehow find someone to provide the service I'm willing to pay for.

Also I've heard mentions this would not be food safe for modern standards or against the law. I'm more doing this to document history for a book I'm writing. Not looking to market a product or make money off of my findings.

--- End quote ---
Yes, thanks a lot

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