MSG in gelatin??

[maestramommy]

There is a little boy in Arwyn's class with multiple FAs. For our class party I was going to use 100% juice and knox gelatin to make jello jigglers. But when I asked his mom she said all gelatin has MSG. I finally ended up making Natural Desserts jello, but it turned out kind of watery, so I made regular jello cubes for the rest of the class.

We met at the party and chatted about her her son's diet. And she confirmed that gelatin has MSG, but I can't find any ingredients listed on the KNOX box with MSG. Is the MSG a by-product, something that occurs naturally during the process of extraction?

[daisymommy]

Weird. I have never heard that. Did a quick Google. Looks like gelatin always contains processed free-glutamic acid (so not the same kind of man-man MSG that we normally think of).
http://www.truthinlabeling.com/hiddensources.htm

"gelatin is formed by hydrolysis of amino acids, creating a product with 10% glutamic acid and 6% aspartic acid."



Learning something new everyday by being a mom!

[minnie-zb]

MSG occurs naturally in everything.

[maestramommy]

MSG occurs naturally in everything.

When you say everything, what do you mean? Is it in our fruits and veggies, and is it the same as the kind that is traditionally put in food during cooking? I asked someone at the natural foods market, where I bought the Natural Dessert jello, and he said it is naturally occurring in some foods, but he didn't know about gelatin. He could only assume that if it's not listed in the ingredients (it wasn't), then it wasn't there. This brand uses a plant based gelatin, rather than animal, and I thought maybe that was the difference?

[minnie-zb]

This is pretty much the extent of my knowledge. I was trained that MSG is present in all foods, it occurs naturally. That typically if something is MSG free, it means no MSG has been added, but does not exclude what occurs naturally. I was also always told that people are not allergic to MSG but they have a sensitivity to it. It is impossible to avoid in food.

Now, I could be wrong, but this is what we were always trained to say -- and this is when I worked for a major foodservice management company and the lawyers were pretty picky about we said and signage in regards to MSG.

This was in the 90's and at the time MSG was a pretty hot topic.

[fortato]

http://www.stayinformed.info/foundinfoods/msgisin.htm

She's right... MSG is in just about everything.....

[maestramommy]

Yikes, how does this poor kid manage to eat anything? Now I'm wondering if MSG was in the jello after all. He was a lot more restless and scattered after snack time, and I got nervous, but his mom didn't seem fazed, so maybe it was normal?