How to Grocery Shop to Avoid MSG

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is sodium salt from the amino acid glutamic acid. It looks like salt but does not have a distinct taste. MSG enhances the flavor of food by stimulating glutamate receptors in the tongue. It's often added to Chinese food, canned foods and processed meat. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies MSG as "generally recognized as safe" --- but requires that MSG is listed on nutrition labels of foods containing it because some people complain of adverse health reactions after ingesting it. Detecting MSG in grocery store items involves scrutinizing nutrition labels.

Instructions

• 1

  Study the nutrition labels on canned and packaged food items before placing them in your grocery cart. Monosodium glutamate may be listed by its full name or as "MSG." Pay particular attention to canned items --- especially soups, highly seasoned snack foods, frozen entrées, salad dressing and items containing five or more ingredients.

• 2

  Note that certain additives may contain small amounts of MSG without having MSG listed on the nutrition label. The FDA does not require the listing of MSG if it occurs naturally in food. For example, hydrolyzed vegetable protein breaks down chemically into amino acids, and the reaction can form MSG. The nutrition label will list hydrolyzed vegetable protein among the ingredients, but not MSG.

• 3

  Discuss your MSG concerns with the deli manager and butcher at your grocery store. Have them identify which types and cuts of poultry and meat do not contain monosodium glutamate. Meat and poultry products containing MSG must have a label that lists it. If you are buying a portion of a cut, however --- a pound of sliced turkey in the deli, for example --- you won't have access to the label unless you ask to see it.

• 4

  Purchase groceries that have undergone little or no processing. Fresh fruits and vegetables, unseasoned fish, eggs, natural peanut butter, unprocessed meat, unflavored rice, olive oil and unflavored oatmeal are examples of foods that do not contain added MSG.