Scientific and Regulatory Status

The FDA placed MSG on its Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) food list along with sugar, salt, and pepper, among others. Since FDA's classification of MSG as GRAS in 1959, new and existing research on MSG has undergone continuous evaluation. In the most recent review, completed in 1995, Experimental Biology (FASEB) reaffirmed the safety of MSG for the general population. In its report commissioned by the FDA, the FASEB found no evidence linking MSG to any serious or long-term health effects, which led the FDA to again reaffirm that MSG is a safe food ingredient at normally consumed levels.

In 1987, the United Nations World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization's Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), cited 230 scientific studies, concluded: "On the basis of available data (chemical, biochemical, toxicological and other), the total dietary intake of glutamates arising from their use at the levels necessary to achieve the desired technological effect and from their acceptable background in food do not, in the opinion of the Committee, represent a hazard to health.

In 1991, the European Communities' (EC) Scientific Committee for Food also affirmed MSG's safety.

In 1992, the Council on Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association (AMA) issued a resolution supporting MSG's safety. In particular, the Council stated that "the scientific record does not support the conclusion that MSG or L-glutamic acid as either exogenously-added flavor enhancing substances or naturally occurring components of food proteins pose a significant public health risk."

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