system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why can't we reverse-engineer "secret formulas" like Coca Cola?

I would think that a piece-by-piece analysis of coca cola could yield all the ingredients therein, and allow us to deduce the supposedly secret formula used to create it.  Pull out each piece individually with appropriate solvents, list all present molecules and cross out known base ingredients.  Analyze the remainder to deduce the source.  And yet, there is only speculation out there.
gpt
You can, and people have.

The book "Big Secrets" by William Poundstone lists a couple of possible formulations.

But the formula isn't really all that big a deal.  If you had it, and made your own coke, you couldn't sell it as Coca-Cola.  You'd have to call it something else.  And it's the name brand recognition that gets people to buy it.