Anyone who has ever been associated with the food industry in Pakistan, be it a homemaker, food blogger, chef or even foodie, will surely remember the 2018 ban that was placed in monosodium glutamate (MSG) by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. MSG, unfortunately, may have been the victim of a hasty ban. MSG, or more commonly referred to as Chinese Salt, is a seasoning or a flavour enhancer with a very unique signature Umami taste. Apart from Chinese cuisines, MSG has been used in pretty much every processed food you can think of, from potato chips, cookies, instant noodles, canned soups, and vegetables. Not only that, MSG is inherently found in whole foods we consume on a daily basis, which include but are not limited to tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese and even breast milk. The bottom line is that MSG has always been a part of our food supply, one way or the other.
In 1960, Robert Ho Man Kwok, a biomedical researcher, famously wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine in which he described experiencing a strange illness after eating at Chinese restaurants in the United States. He dubbed it the ‘Chinese-Restaurant Syndrome’, narrating symptoms of numbness, weakness, and heart palpitation after consuming MSG. This began a 50-year long domino effect of mistrust about the flavour additive all over the world. Many countries attributed this syndrome to ban MSG even though there was no scientific backing to Robert Ho Man Kwok’s claims that MSG was responsible for his symptoms.
Over the next decades that followed, extensive research was conducted regarding MSG’s safety and its implications on health. It has been thereby confirmed that the seasoning is safe to consume. Numerous public health agencies and organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have endorsed and conducted their findings to validate the safety of MSG. The FDA has placed MSG in their “GRAS” category i.e., “generally recognised as safe” for years now. Science hasn’t been able to consistently trigger any adverse symptoms from MSG consumption. The really interesting part: this holds true even in people who claim to have an MSG sensitivity. Pakistan had banned the use of MSG based on the decades-long ripple effects of Robert Ho Man Kwok’s claims against MSG. However, research suggests that MSG has long been proven to be safe to consume.
As per the 2017 study published in Food Science and Nutrition reveals that in both processed and homemade foods, MSG could reduce sodium without affecting the perception of saltiness. Pakistan has a long history of major health issues such as hypertension and various cardiovascular diseases, arising mainly from excessive salt intake in our daily diets. The Government of Pakistan has, time and again, highlighted the need to reduce dietary salt intake, indicating it as an area of public health concern. Even the Pakistan Dietary Guideline for Better Nutrition published in 2018 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations emphasised the need for restriction of dietary salt intake to less than 5 gram/day as advised by the WHO.
MSG contains about 12 percent sodium while table salt contains 39 percent sodium by weight. Hence MSG contains one-third the amount of sodium as table salt and has been used to enhance the taste in food for over 100 years, given that taste is a key factor in what people decide to eat. In spite of the recent establishment of scientific evidence confirming that MSG or Chinese salt is safe to consume, Pakistan is still living in the bubble of its misconceptions. It would be reasonable to say that it is time that misapprehensions and myths about MSG, that have been already debunked, must be reconsidered in Pakistan.
In 1960, Robert Ho Man Kwok, a biomedical researcher, famously wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine in which he described experiencing a strange illness after eating at Chinese restaurants in the United States. He dubbed it the ‘Chinese-Restaurant Syndrome’, narrating symptoms of numbness, weakness, and heart palpitation after consuming MSG. This began a 50-year long domino effect of mistrust about the flavour additive all over the world. Many countries attributed this syndrome to ban MSG even though there was no scientific backing to Robert Ho Man Kwok’s claims that MSG was responsible for his symptoms.
Over the next decades that followed, extensive research was conducted regarding MSG’s safety and its implications on health. It has been thereby confirmed that the seasoning is safe to consume. Numerous public health agencies and organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have endorsed and conducted their findings to validate the safety of MSG. The FDA has placed MSG in their “GRAS” category i.e., “generally recognised as safe” for years now. Science hasn’t been able to consistently trigger any adverse symptoms from MSG consumption. The really interesting part: this holds true even in people who claim to have an MSG sensitivity. Pakistan had banned the use of MSG based on the decades-long ripple effects of Robert Ho Man Kwok’s claims against MSG. However, research suggests that MSG has long been proven to be safe to consume.
As per the 2017 study published in Food Science and Nutrition reveals that in both processed and homemade foods, MSG could reduce sodium without affecting the perception of saltiness. Pakistan has a long history of major health issues such as hypertension and various cardiovascular diseases, arising mainly from excessive salt intake in our daily diets. The Government of Pakistan has, time and again, highlighted the need to reduce dietary salt intake, indicating it as an area of public health concern. Even the Pakistan Dietary Guideline for Better Nutrition published in 2018 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations emphasised the need for restriction of dietary salt intake to less than 5 gram/day as advised by the WHO.
MSG contains about 12 percent sodium while table salt contains 39 percent sodium by weight. Hence MSG contains one-third the amount of sodium as table salt and has been used to enhance the taste in food for over 100 years, given that taste is a key factor in what people decide to eat. In spite of the recent establishment of scientific evidence confirming that MSG or Chinese salt is safe to consume, Pakistan is still living in the bubble of its misconceptions. It would be reasonable to say that it is time that misapprehensions and myths about MSG, that have been already debunked, must be reconsidered in Pakistan.
