FOOD AGENCY DECIDES AGAINST MANDATORY DECLARATION OF ADDED MSG
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) today announced the decision of its Board not to require the mandatory declaration of added monosodium glutamate (MSG) in foods served in restaurants and other food outlets.
The Managing Director of FSANZ, Ian Lindenmayer, said the Board accepted that, in certain circumstances, some people may experience some reaction to large amounts of MSG when consumed in a single meal.
FSANZ has found evidence that, following high exposure, MSG may be responsible for causing mild reactions in a very small proportion of the population.
'These reactions, while unpleasant, tend to be transient and do not produce any long-lasting effects. There is no robust evidence that MSG is a significant trigger factor in more serious reactions such as asthmatic attacks,' Mr Lindenmayer said.
'Our risk analysis found overwhelming evidence that MSG is safe for the general population at the levels typically incorporated into various foods.
'This work took into consideration two toxicological evaluations conducted by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants - a committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.
'This committee is made up of pre-eminent experts in related fields, drawn from a wide spectrum of countries. It concluded there were no safety concerns over the use of MSG and did not consider it necessary to set an upper limit for its use.
'As a result, FSANZ will not proceed with an application from NSW Health to require food outlets to provide written advice of the presence of added MSG in their food.'
Mr Lindenmayer said that FSANZ considers food labelling to be a very important means of providing information to consumers about those aspects of food that are important to their health.
For this reason, new standards are currently being introduced which require, for example, the mandatory provision of information about the levels of nutrients and the presence of food allergens, on virtually all packaged foods.
In addition, all food additives, including MSG, must be identified on the label of all packaged foods.
However, FSANZ recognises the need to avoid overloading consumers with so much information that vitally important warnings are overlooked.
'Because restaurant foods are continually changing with seasonal variation to the availability of the raw ingredients and changing consumer tastes, restaurant menus have generally not been used to convey this sort of information,' Mr Lindenmayer said.
'This applies not only to Australia and New Zealand, but world-wide.
''Instead, we generally encourage people who think they have sensitivities to particular foods or food ingredients to enquire about the presence of these in foods they might be ordering when visiting restaurants.'
Mr Lindenmayer said that, for this reason, it has not been the practice to require such details to be shown on restaurant menus, even for food ingredients such as nuts and seafood which can cause serious adverse reactions in those people who have an allergy to them.
Another consideration is that the NSW Health application relates only to MSG that has been added to foods. This could mislead consumers into believing that foods on menus not carrying a reference to added MSG were actually MSG-free - when, in fact, many foods naturally contain this compound.
Glutamate occurs naturally in virtually all foods, including meat, fish, poultry, breast milk, fruit and vegetables. Peas, tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms and certain cheeses tend to have high levels of free glutamate, which contribute to their flavour-enhancing effects when used in cooking.
Various processed and prepared foods, such as traditional seasonings, stock, sauces and canned soups, also contain significant levels of free glutamate, both from natural sources and from added MSG.
| Background: | You can view the Draft Assessment Report for this application here and the fact sheet here . |