kpmartin@watmath.UUCP (Kevin Martin) (07/28/84)
According to my Merck Index, MSG is produced by the hydrolization of vegetable proteins. This seems reasonable, after all, glutamic acid is and amino acid used for building proteins... I expect that MSG occurs in *any* 'naturally brewed' soy sauce (such as Kikkoman), and since it is a product of the brewing, it does not have to be listed in the ingredients (any more than cheese needs to list all the compounds produced by the ageing). This would explain its omnipresence in oriental cooking. A couple of other interesting notes from the MSG entry: MSG is listed under the names Sodium Glutamate, monosodium glutamate, Ajinomoto, Glutacyl, RL-50, Vetsin, Chinese seasoning, MSG, Accent, Zest, and Glutavene. It also notes "Meat-like taste. The optimum concentration is from 0.2 to 0.5% in normally salted food. NaCl must be present to produce an attractive glutamate taste. A 1% concentration or more is liable to produce a sweetish taste." No mention is made of side effects... They don't say what 'normally salted food' is. But 0.2 to 0.5% MSG seems like A LOT of sodium. MSG is 13.6% sodium, by weight.