The label “No MSG Added” has become meaningless to the consumer.  Such a label does not mean MSG or free glutamate is not in the final product. Even products that are labeled “100% Organic” or “All Natural” tell us nothing about the free glutamate content in food.

Let’s take for example, commercial chicken broth. I have not found a single commercial chicken broth on the market that does not contain MSG. Here is a chicken broth labeled in big bold print on the front of the package: “Certified Organic, All Natural, No MSG Added.”

chicken broth label

 

INGREDIENTS: CHICKEN STOCK, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF: SALT, NATURAL FLAVORING, YEAST EXTRACT, CARROT JUICE CONCENTRATE, CELERY JUICE CONCENTRATE, ONION JUICE CONCENTRATE

One would think that this would be a food without MSG and a good healthy choice for our families.  This label means absolutely nothing when it comes to informing you about how much MSG may be in this food. This item may even contain significantly more MSG than a food honestly labeled as containing MSG.  Yeast extract and natural flavoring in this ingredient list contain free glutamates.  The concentrates in the ingredient list are suspect.

Only if MSG is 99% purity or greater is an ingredient required to be labeled as MSG.  Any ingredient that has less than 99% MSG purity is labeled something else. Because some food manufacturers are not adding the 99% or greater purity of MSG, they label the food product as “No MSG Added”, even though a number of the ingredients added can contain free glutamate or MSG.  Food manufacturers discovered that they can have MSG in their final product by adding ingredients that through the processing or combined with other ingredients contain significant amounts of MSG. The result is that consumers have no visibility as to how much MSG is in the final product of foods.

To avoid eating foods enriched with free glutamate requires that the consumer is aware and understands all the precursors to MSG, the food processes that generate MSG, and the many different ingredient labels that contain MSG.  It is also upon us, the consumers, to reduce the demand for such foods that are misleading in the labels. We can make a change and communicate through our wallets.  Check out this list to familiarize your self with other ingredients that contain free glutamate.