MSG is an abbreviation for monosodium glutamate and is an ingredient that is frowned upon in the United States but widely used in Japanese food.
Japanese food loves glutamate-rich ingredients, and monosodium glutamate (MSG) is its cousin and where umami comes from (psst, ancient Japanese secret).
It's so common that most people in Japan don't even know its formal name, they just call it “flavor salt” or 味塩 (aji shio). It's so common that you can buy it at the supermarket right next to the table salt.
MSG became well-known for its widespread use in Chinese dishes and other fast food meals, including fried chicken from fast food restaurants. Another place you'll find MSG is on the soup shelf at the grocery store. The additive is used to enhance their flavor and saltiness.
A little amount of MSG cannot be harmful
However, many people, even Japanese, do not like the additon of MSG because it makes the taste and flavor too artificial. You can choose foods indicated as "with no additives" or "調味料不添加".
Pakistan. The Punjab Food Authority banned Ajinomoto, commonly known as Chinese salt, which contains MSG, from being used in food products in the Punjab Province of Pakistan in January 2018.
Mainland China is also the world's largest exporter of MSG. The following chart shows world consumption of monosodium glutamate: Northeast Asia accounted for 60% of world consumption in 2021, with mainland China alone accounting for 53.5% of world consumption.
Some of our food does contain MSG but rest assured, it's only present at levels that are safe for the general population as deemed by New Zealand Food Standards. It's a recognised flavour enhancer that also occurs naturally in foods such as meat, fish, milk, vegetables, fruits and cheese.
ALL CHICKEN PRODUCTS CONTAIN MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE.
Myth: MSG is high in salt, or sodium
Unlike regular table salt, which is 40% sodium, MSG contains only 12% sodium, which is one-third the amount in table salt. Researchers have also explored MSG as a viable alternative to salt to reduce sodium intake and improve public health through a reduced risk of hypertension.
Restaurant Curry
Indian and Asian restaurants -- particularly Japanese restaurants -- often use MSG in their curried dishes. When you plan on eating out, contact the restaurant ahead of time and ask the manager if her establishment uses MSG.
Miso paste is a fermented paste made by aging soy beans with salt, koji and other ingredients until they have a very concentrated flavor. It contains high amounts of glutamic acid and salt, but not MSG extract.
Yet msg was not always the despised additive it has become, and its origins are not Chinese. It is a Japanese invention, and despite the vaunted naturalness of Japanese food, it was extraordinarily popular in Japanese kitchens at one time.
Monosodium glutamate is called Ajinomoto in Japan. Ajinomoto is a company name but that product is now called ajinomoto as they are the first one to find this MSG.
Lower-quality sushi may also be made with sushi powders which almost always have MSG added to them, but in all sushi, the amount of “MSG-like” stuff is actually a very very small part of the whole recipe anyway.
It also has an equally familiar-sounding ingredient: monosodium glutamate, or MSG. McDonald's doesn't currently use MSG in the other items that compose its regular, nationally available menu—but both Chick-fil-A and Popeyes list it as an ingredient in their own chicken sandwiches and chicken filets.
How can I know if there is MSG in my food? FDA requires that foods containing added MSG list it in the ingredient panel on the packaging as monosodium glutamate.
McDonald's doesn't use MSG in its food that is on the national menu, and there are no updates from the company yet on whether the Crispy Chicken Sandwiches will be added to the menu permanently. McDonald's has been making strides to use purer ingredients in its food.
In Australia and New Zealand, no food additive — including MSG — is approved for use in food until its safety has been established by FSANZ. MSG and other glutamates are among a group of food additives that are generally permitted in foods, due to their safety.
MSG is created in the cooking process
When the McDonald's corporation made the decision to add artificial beef flavoring to their fry oil, in an effort to mimic the beef tallowy-goodness of the 1950s recipe, they created another chemical component that contributes to the addictive quality of their French fries: MSG.
The addition of MSG in foods is “generally recognized as safe,” says the FDA site. MSG is found in Chinese cuisine -- but also in tomatoes, cheese, canned soup, and a range of foods.
The FDA banned the use of cyclamate, an artificial sweetener, in 1969 when an animal study showed that a cyclamate-saccharin mixture increased the incidence of bladder cancer in rats.
On the complaint of deliberate use of MSG in such products by manufacturers, the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) stated in 2016 that the Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 allows the use of MSG in specific food.
Among them, condiment raceway MSG prices are also quietly higher. According to the data released by Zhuo Chuang information recently, raw materials boosted the price of monosodium glutamate to a ten-year high in the second half of 2021.