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Glutamate news
Umami - an overview of recent research on MSG,
sensory applications and safety issues
NINOMIYA, K
Technical Committee, Umami Manufacturers
Association of Japan
For nearly a century, monosodium glutamate
(MSG) has been used safely and effectively in the food supply. MSG is one of the
most extensively researched ingredients over the past 30 years. Hundreds of
studies have provided a clear picture of the safety of MSG. The key qualitative
and quantitative features of umami, as well as safety evaluation of MSG as a
food additive, are reviewed in this paper.
The taste of glutamate has featured in
traditional foods from all over the world for centuries. For example, the
ancient Romans enjoyed the taste of glutamate in a fish sauce called Garum,
which was used in the majority of recipes found in the famous cook book by
Apicius. It is interesting to note that glutamate-rich foods and ingredients are
used in many traditional foods and condiments such as cured ham, cheese, anchovy
sauce, concentrated extracts such as Bovril, Marmite, tomato sauces, Glace de
viande in Western countries, fish and soy sauces in Asian countries.
The glutamate story stared in 1908, when Prof.
Ikeda isolated glutamate as the essence of Japanese broth prepared from seaweed
konbu and named this taste umami. He also found that monosodium glutamate has
strong umami taste that could be utilized in seasoning. The umami taste has
characteristic qualities that differ from other basic tastes, sweet, sour, salty
and bitter. These differences are the functions, which are so important to the
food industry.
Besides many studies on flavor profiles and
safety of MSG, remarkable advances on the studies on glutamate have been made
that show an importance of glutamate in our body.
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