Is eating Maggie really bad for health?

KalimNews, 12 June 2015: Maggi has been India’s favourite instant-food for quite a while now. Tired of cooking lunch and dinner? Make maggi. Hungry in the middle of the day? Make maggi. But this overly-consumed food was found to contain added monosodium glutamate (MSG) and lead in excess of the permissible limit.

MSG is also known as The Silent Killer.

Monosodium Glutamate - MSG (commonly known as Ajinomoto) enhances the taste of the food.

It is not only present in Maggi but in mostly all packaged food items.

It's just that presently Maggi is in the limelight.

There is always a permitted quantity which is not allowed to be exceeded by the did companies (but they are always.. Maggi contains 6 times the lead it's permitted to )

It's present everywhere around.. Now it depends whether this topic will stretch or will Nestle be able to suppress this issue like Coca Cola did when tests prove it harmful.

If it stretches further.. Through media and public.. Fingers will be pointed at other food items too and a mass check might be done.

But you can't completely eliminate MSG from the market.. As, if not in packaged foods it is used in high quantity in Chinese food and other street food items too. One should themselves keep a check and reduce the packaged food items consumption.

If it's so harmful, why is it put ?

It is increasingly found in many packaged food items as it is a taste enhancer.

Ajinomoto is nothing but a Japanese firm named Ajinomoto Corp. 

It produces this Ajinomoto food enhancer, in which the main ingredient is this monosodium glutamate commonly known as MSG.

You won't find or notice any side effects of MSG. MSG is a slow killer.

The health effect that it has at first are quite mild. But with expense of time they become severe.

Side effects caused by this dangerous ingredient.

1. Headache: This is a very common side effect of MSG. You normally get it. But due to continue intake of MSG this mild headache can take form of migraine. This migraine can be very severe.
2. Overstimulates the nerves: As already discussed MSG is a neurotransmitter. It stimulates the nerves and disbalances the neurotransmitters. This leads to an unhealthy body.
3. Heart effects: Excess intake doesn’t even leave heart unaffected. It leads to irregular heartbeats, cardiac muscles arrest and Chest pains.
4. Burning sensation in the facial region is quite common due to regular intake of MSG.
5. Pregnant women have to be very cautious regarding this ingredient as the breakdown of the barrier which would mean your baby is exposed to every substance in your blood, good or bad, in equal proportion as you.
6. Even small kids should completely avoid consumption of MSG.
7. MSG can be a reason for problems likeblood pressure, thyroid issues, diabetes, asthma, food allergies and also obesity.
8. Excess sweating is also a very common side effects of MSG.
9. Nausea and weakness can also be felt after consumption of MSG
10. It can also damage the retina of the eyes
11. This ingredient can also be a reason for causing cancer.

Items that contain MSG

• Ready to eat food packets
• Dehydrated soup packets
• Dehydrated gravy packets
• Instant noodles and cup noodles.
• Preserved fish
• All kinds of sausages
• Tomato ketchup
• Mayonnaise
• Potato wafers
• Soya sauce
• All canned and preserved foods
• All fast food items, especially Chinese

These food items should be completely avoided. If you don’t, you are risking your life to an ingredient that will kill you slowly.

Prefer food items made at home, basically organic and unprocessed food. I’m not saying that you should never eat these items.You can make all these items at home without the use of this dangerous MSG.

After knowing all this, I’m pretty sure that you will avoid all kinds of ready-made food items. Not completely, but still you will try.

See, life is very precious. Don’t pay high prices just for satisfying your taste buds. I will just say maintain one thing ‘say no to Ajinomoto or this ingredient MSG'

Why is Monosodium glutamate added to food?

It is a kind of amino acid which occurs naturally in many agricultural products, and is often also added artificially to packaged food to enhance flavour.

Regulators and experts say such additives can be harmful for health, mainly for children. It is mandatory for companies to specify on the packaging if MSG has been added.

“Enforcement of the Act lies with state government and they must keep a stringent check. Once we receive communication from the state, we will certainly examine and take immediate cognizance,” a senior FSSAI official said.

Nestle maintains that Maggi noodles “conform to all applicable food laws and regulations”. They also said that so far they have not been informed about any cancellation of licence or ban on the product.

The Lucknow Food Safety and Drug Administration has initiated inquiry and written to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in New Delhi seeking to cancel the licence for Maggi. Officials also said that the state regulator has asked FSSAI to order sampling of the product from across India to check its quality.

The test results show that there are added monosodium glutamate and excess of lead. We have ordered further sampling,” FSDA Assistant Commissioner Vijay Bahadur Yadav told TOI.

However, Nestle, which is the manufacturer of Maggi, maintains that it does not add monosodium glutamate to the product, and that the presence of excess lead is “surprising” for the company.

This is what Nestle had to say about the matter:

“We do not add MSG to MAGGI Noodles and glutamate, if present, may come from naturally occurring sources. Food regulators in India also do not specify any limit for the presence of MSG / Glutamate,” a Nestle spokesperson said.

“We are surprised with the lead content supposedly found in the sample. We monitor the lead content regularly as part of regulatory requirements, and tests at our own accredited laboratories as well as those by independent external accredited laboratories have consistently shown the results to be well within the permissible limit.”

“We have tested Maggi samples at Kolkata’s referral laboratory. 

The test results show that there are added monosodium glutamate and excess of lead. We have ordered further sampling,” FSDA Assistant Commissioner Vijay Bahadur Yadav told TOI.

However, Nestle, which is the manufacturer of Maggi, maintains that it does not add monosodium glutamate to the product, and that the presence of excess lead is “surprising” for the company.

• The test results : Maggi contains 17 parts per million lead?!Permissible limit : 0.01 parts per million (notice the difference?)

Nestle says its records show lead content is negligible and less than 1 % of the fixed limit.(Compiled by KalimNews)