Regulator vouches for MSG safety

By Kim Da-ye

The government is pushing a campaign to convince the public that products containing monosodium glutamate (MSG) are safe to eat amid distrust of the flavor enhancer among housewives.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) stated in its monthly promotional publication that consuming MSG is harmless.

“There is a misunderstanding that excessive intake of sodium L-glutamate may destroy brain cells and cause headache, nausea and difficulties with breathing,” the food and drug regulator said.

“Joint research between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1995 proved that sodium L-glutamate (MSG) is a food additive safe for lifelong consumption.”

The government began a campaign in February to promote MSG as a safe flavor enhancer. For example, MSG was the main subject of the MFDS’s brochure about the safety of food additives.

The ministry said that glutamic acid is one of 20 proteinogenic amino acids and is found in natural food sources including breast milk, cow milk, cheese, meat, potato, peas, tomato and corn.

The best known MSG product is “Miwon” manufactured by Daesang while many Korean seasonings and sauces contain it.

In the brochure, the ministry even highlighted positive aspects of the flavor enhancer, saying that MSG contains only a third of the sodium level found in salt, so one can cut sodium consumption by 30 percent by using MSG products.

Later this year, the government also plans to stop using the term “chemical synthetics” for artificial food additives produced through chemical reaction, to help eliminate prejudice that natural additives are healthier than chemical counterparts.

In February, Rep. Yoon Myung-hee of the ruling Saenuri Party held a policy debate on rumors about food with experts and government officials. The safety of products containing MSG was again the central subject of the debate with Sogang University Professor Lee Duck-hwan saying, “Additives such as MSG are the biggest victims of our society’s irrational view about food.”

The government launched the campaign to address the public’s excessive fear of food additives.

In the ministry’s 2013 survey, 34.5 percent of respondents said that the biggest threat to food safety is food additives while 26.5 percent pointed at endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Nearly 21 percent of the respondents chose sulfur dioxide as the additive to avoid, and 15.7 percent picked MSG.

Consumers continue to debate the safety of MSG with many of them refusing to use it for its strong taste. In a popular online community for housewives, 82cook.com, a visitor who has been married for three months asked if using a small amount of beef stock powder containing MSG would be unhealthy.

Most visitors who answered her question recommended making a stock using natural ingredients including dried anchovies, kelp and spring onions.

“Once you start cooking only with natural ingredients, you will be disgusted by the artificial taste of chemical additives,” one post said.