Meal replacement

[3] For example, a meal replacement must provide the minimum specified amounts of various vitamins and minerals and contain between 200 and 400 food calories of energy, of which no more than 30% can be from fat.

Labeling information is prescribed, and packaging must provide a statement that the product should not be used for more than three weeks without medical advice in order to protect users from inadvertent malnutrition.

[4] In Canada, meal replacements are regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and must meet minimum calorie, protein and vitamin requirements, causing some American products to be rejected.

The nutrients that make up the mixtures are regulated by Directive 96/8/EC of February 26, 1996, "About food products intended for use in low-calorie diets to reduce weight".

However, some countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia are stringent on claims meal replacement companies make, relating to health benefits and weight loss.

Hugo Gernsback's 1911 novella Ralph 124C 41+ describes a system where food is liquefied and delivered to the diner through a flexible tube.

[18] L. Frank Baum's 1913 book The Patchwork Girl of Oz includes a Square Meal Tablet, "which was no bigger than your little finger-nail but contained, in condensed form, the equal of a bowl of soup, a portion of fried fish, a roast, a salad and a dessert".

Meal replacements often come in liquid form, but there also are meals and powdered drinks such as Soylent .