MSG still needed

Harm G. Frey has said though he is not a chemist, he has never heard that apart from being a taste enhancer, monosodium glutamate (MSG) is also used for other purposes, for instance, as a preservative (The Jakarta Post, Aug. 28).

In fact, MSG is one of the hundreds of food additives used in food processing. According to The World Book Encyclopedia Vol.7, food additives can be classified into six main groups, namely preservatives; nutritional supplements; flavoring agents; coloring agents; emulsifiers, stabilizers and thickeners; and acids and alkalis. Flavoring agents include all spices, natural fruit flavors and artificial flavors. MSG belongs to this group. Spices cannot substitute MSG and vice versa. MSG obviously cannot be used as a preservative.

A preservative such as sodium benzoate is limited to 1 gram per kilogram of food, while MSG is to be used "adequately", which is in line with the decision of the Joint FAO-WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives in 1987, putting the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of MSG as "ADI not specified", because it is considered safe.

He referred to the "China Syndrome", which should be the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome (CRS). CRS was said to have prevailed at Chinese restaurants in America, while no such cases were reported in Taiwan, the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong or Singapore with their tens of thousands of Chinese restaurants.

He also said many people in Europe suffered from vertigo, abdominal and kidney problems etc. due to MSG. I doubt its truth because in 1991, the Scientific Committee for Food of European Union countries declared MSG safe for consumption.

According to the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency, Holland, Belgium and Germany have imported 16,000 tons of MSG from Indonesia apart from their imports from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Thailand.

While he claimed that no MSG could be found in his kitchen, I wonder if he uses Maggi instead, which also contains MSG.

SUNARTO PRAWIROSUJANTO Jakarta

Note: This letter closes the argument on the MSG debate

--Editor