The taste is usually the Rinsing Aid, aka Drying Agent, not the detergent. It's an additional chemical is sprayed on the dishes towards the end of the cycle, to aid drying without creating spots. The chemical remains on the dishes.
I'm quite surprised the majority of people are fine with drinking that stuff. Not just because it noticeably changes the taste of beverages but because it's covered in chemicals and people are fine with it mixing together with their beverage.
I have never had to use rinse aid until recently. I needed to buy a new dishwashers, and it didn't have a heated element for drying (for energy efficiency reasons). Without rinseaid, things stay wet.
I tried to do some research on the safety of the chemical, but couldn't find anything online
There usually is some initial setup where you can set how much salt (to help with hard water) and rinse aid the dishwasher should use. You can set the rinse aid to zero.
It doesn't noticeably change the taste of beverages to me. As to the chemical argument, that doesn't matter to me. I'm willing to trust that people have done the homework and that it's safe to drink.
Given the history of how we consume stuff like forever chemicals, BPA, roundup pesticides, carcinogenic makeup, and the negligence involved in the Ohio chemical spill and perhaps Boeing, you are very trusting.
It's evident that some of those trusting people are willing to make or save a buck while putting you at risk.
At the end of it, people should probably make their own assessment as to whether they should put themselves at risk. And I don't mind drying a handful of dishes if the alternative is to lace them all with surfactant.
