Dietitian reveals the snacks you didn't realise contain MSG

It may have been several years since you heard the acronym MSG used.

A food additive that received much attention in the 1980s, usually in the context of Chinese food, MSG, monosodium glutamate or food additive 621, is a flavour enhancer.

It's added to a range of savoury foods to create the richness required when emulating cheese, chicken, and bacon flavours in foods that don't often come from these ingredients.

MSG is found naturally in some foods including soy, tomatoes, and cheese in a slightly different chemical form, but it is the food additive MSG that is worth paying more attention to as a food ingredient, especially if you are buying snack foods for kids.

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MSG is technically safe for consumption. While some individuals may feel that they are sensitive to MSG, and report a range of side effects including itchy skin, disturbed sleep and headaches, larger-scale scientific studies have not confirmed these as universally experienced side effects of MSG consumption.

As such, food companies routinely argue that there is nothing wrong with adding flavour enhancers to food. 

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What is less frequently discussed is the impact that flavour enhancers, including MSG, have on food consumption patterns, especially when they are added to ultra-processed foods.

The role of a flavour enhancer when it is added to a chip, cracker or snack food is to give it a flavour that does not naturally exist. As such, when the brain is exposed to such intense flavours, it drives the desire for more of this type of food, in the same way that artificial sweeteners, being up to 200x sweeter than natural sugar, drive the desire for intensely sweet flavours.

If flavour enhancers were encouraging us to eat more fresh, whole, unprocessed foods this would pose no issue, but rather flavour enhancers drive the desire for more processed snack food that offers little nutritionally.

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And specifically in the case of children, is likely driving the desire for more tasty and processed snacks – why would you want a slice of cheese when you can eat a nacho cheese cracker?

For this reason, while flavour enhancers may be deemed 'safe', it does not mean that they are a good idea for children or adults, especially if you are wanting to control cravings and minimise your intake of food additives in general. 

The foods where you will find added MSG:

Shapes

As a general rule of thumb, if you see a food with a meat or chicken flavour, it is highly likely to have a flavour enhancer added to create this flavour in a food that is likely to contain very little chicken, bacon or beef.

While not all Shapes flavours contain food additive 621, you can find it in the popular Chicken Crimpy and Nacho Cheese flavours.

2-minute noodles

When it comes to 2-minute noodles, it is not the noodles themselves with added flavour, rather the tiny sachet used to create the flavour of chicken or beef.

Not only do these sachets contain almost your entire daily recommended intake of salt, but in most varieties a hit of MSG as well.

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Twisties

Both cheese and chicken Twisties contain added MSG because, as you would imagine, there is not much chicken in an extruded cheese snack.

Smith's chips

While some major potato chip brands including Red Rock Deli and Kettle have taken added MSG out of their products, there are still several Smith's flavours including Cheese and Onion, Chicken, BBQ, and Meatball that contain flavour enhancers. 

Pringles - Sour Cream 

The marketing slogan, 'once you pop, you can't stop' certainly holds true for flavoured Pringles, where food additive 621 gives the thinly-cut crisps their intense flavour. 

Mission chips

The flavours associated with any Mexican cheesy chip or corn chips, such as nacho cheese or cheese supreme, are more likely to use these additives to create a stronger flavour profile than you find in regular cheese or corn.

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CC's and Doritos

While plain corn chips are generally MSG-free, cheesy flavours tend to contain both MSG and another flavour enhancers, 635.

In a Biskit

The chicken flavour gives it away, but several of the 'In a Biskit' flavours contain flavour enhancers.

Delites Rice Snacks

While many of the rice cracker brands have taken out added MSG as an ingredient, in the Delites rice snack range there is added MSG in all the flavoured options. 

Harvest Snaps

Marketed as a healthy snack, and with some varieties clocking in a 5 Health Star Rating, what is not as front of pack is the added MSG in flavoured varieties.