Tag: truthinlabelingcampaign

Posted on

MSG on 60 Minutes – the truth isn’t going away

If it seems like you never hear mention of the toxic nature of MSG on any nationally-aired show – cable or network – it’s true! It’s almost as if a gag-order had been issued. In fact, any talk about MSG in the media has been virtually nonexistent since the 1991 CBS 60 Minutes broadcast about the dangers of the flavor enhancer.

Sometime after the 60 Minutes program aired, Nancy Millman, writing for the Chicago Tribune, did an article focusing on the activities of Jack Samuels (co-founder of the Truth in Labeling Campaign) and his fight to have MSG labeled. According to Millman, prior to beginning her work, she had cleared the story with her editor, but the article was never published.

Similarly, the Baltimore Sun accepted and then refused to print an article on MSG by journalist Linda Bonvie, and an editor at the New York Times told Bonvie that she wouldn’t take a story that even mentioned MSG. According to Bonvie, the editor had said she was unwilling to face the pressure and intimidation that would result if she did. And in 1991, Don Hewett of 60 Minutes said, on air, that he had never had so much pressure applied to him by industry as he had prior to the airing of the MSG segment. Although rated by TV guide as one of the two most watched programs of the 1991 year, 60 Minutes has refused to run the piece again. Prior to the 60 Minutes show airing, Ajinomoto pulled out all the stops to kill it. In early 1990, we had become aware that the show was in the works, and over the course of its development had provided information to producers Grace Dickhaus and Roz Karson. In March of 1991, a producer for the CBS show called Ajinomoto with the announcement that they were thinking of doing a segment on their product.

According to the Wall Street Journal a group of trade associations launched one of the largest pre-emptive campaigns in public relations history. The WSJ said that “A crisis-management team specializing in 60 Minutes damage control has been hired to help the industry execute an elaborate game plan to forestall a repeat of the 1989 Alar-on-apples scare.”

We had received a copy of the “International Food Information Council MSG Committee/MSG Coalition COMMUNICATIONS PLAN” from an anonymous source, which detailed IFIC’s plans for scuttling the 60 Minutes segment on MSG, or, failing that, to provide for crisis management. We forwarded IFIC’s plan to the WSJ.

The IFIC, which represents itself as an “independent” organization, sends attractive brochures to dietitians, nutritionists, hospitals, schools, the media, and politicians, proclaiming the safety of monosodium glutamate. IFIC’s paid relationship to the glutamate industry is documented in the 31st edition of the Encyclopedia of Associations.

If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we’ll put them up on Facebook. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling.

Posted on

Brain damage, gross obesity, infertility, and migraine headache. MSG causes them all.

Don’t let your concern about such things as skin rash, migraine headaches, and heart irregularities caused by monosodium glutamate (MSG) distract you from the fact that MSG kills brain cells (that don’t repair themselves) and in turn disrupts the endocrine system.

You might say that just about everyone has heard of MSG-migraines. Every headache clinic that we know of lists MSG as a headache trigger. And the Glutes either ignore the relationship entirely or simply say it isn’t so.

If pushed to the wall, industry always falls back on its old standby called Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, which erroneously implies that MSG-reactions are limited to those reported by Dr. Ho Man Kwok in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1968.

You’ll never hear the Glutes talking about MSG-induced brain damage, MSG-induced obesity, or MSG-induced infertility. If you read the medical literature, you’ll find studies of MSG-induced brain damage, MSG-induced retinal degeneration, MSG-induced obesity, and MSG-induced infertility going back over 60 years to research from Lucas and Newhouse in 1957. And you won’t hear about that from the major media outlets (and even the not-so-major ones). Ever since 60 Minutes aired a segment on MSG in 1991, no media outlet has even suggested that MSG might be toxic.

Data suppression could be considered an art form – one the Glutes have been mastering for decades. Want to know how that works? You’ll find the details in the published, peer-reviewed article The Toxicity/Safety of Processed Free Glutamic Acid (MSG): A Study in Suppression of Information.

If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we’ll put them up on Facebook. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling.

Posted on

Ajinomoto found to conduct ‘horrific’ testing on dogs and other animals

According to PETA, numerous food and beverage companies, including Coca-Cola and General Mills, have stopped conducting tests on animals to “establish health claims for the marketing of products.”

Ajinomoto, the world’s largest manufacturer of monosodium glutamate, is not one of them.

The group describes torturous experiments such as cutting open dogs’ stomachs to insert feeding tubes to deliver liquid diets with MSG, removing stomach fluids and injecting them with drugs.

Below is the petition by PETA (with link) asking Ajinomoto to put an end to its animal testing.

Urge MSG Flavor Giant Ajinomoto to End Horrific Tests on Dogs, Others

Japan-based conglomerate Ajinomoto Co., Inc.—the world’s largest manufacturer of the controversial food flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG) as well as the owner of packaged frozen food brands Tai Pei, Ling Ling, and José Olé—has been tormenting thousands of dogs, fish, gerbils, guinea pigs, mice, pigs, rabbits, and rats in horrific and deadly experiments since the 1950s. The company has ignored numerous attempts by PETA to discuss putting an end to worthless animal testing using its ingredients.

It’s time Ajinomoto paid attention, and we need your help.

Why Animal Testing?
Food companies frequently torment and kill animals in abusive tests to make dubious human health claims about food products and ingredients in order to market them to consumers. But the truth is that these experiments aren’t required by law, nor do they have any relevance to human health.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Superior non-animal research methods, including studies safely conducted on human volunteers or donated human tissue, are readily available, more affordable than animal tests, and far more reliable.

What Is Ajinomoto Doing to Animals?
Ajinomoto experimenters have cut open dogs’ stomachs and inserted tubes, starved them for 18 hours, given them liquid diets with MSG and other common amino acids, taken their stomach fluid, and injected them with drugs. They’ve also fed rabbits a common amino acid, starved them, repeatedly taken their blood, and then killed and dissected them. And Ajinomoto has funded or conducted recently published experiments in which rats or mice have endured their nerves being cut and have been starved, forced to run or swim, force-fed, injected with a variety of toxic cancer drugs, electrocuted, and cut open, causing some to die from botched surgeries while others were killed and dissected.

What’s PETA Doing to Help?
PETA is leading the global effort to end abhorrent animal testing in the food and beverage industry. Major companies such as Kellogg, The Coca-Cola Company, and General Mills have adopted new policies banning animal tests following talks with PETA scientists. It’s time that Ajinomoto joined the dozens of other food and beverage companies throughout the world that, after talking with PETA, have stopped funding or conducting shocking animal tests that aren’t even required by law.

Please take action and let Ajinomoto know that it’s time it banned animal testing. (The petition you can sign is at the bottom of the page linked below).
https://support.peta.org/page/14048/action/1?

Posted on

Challenge: Find the plants in these ‘plant-based’ products!

The latest and greatest “foods” to hit restaurants and grocery store shelves these days are made from plants — or so we’ve been told. With that advertising claim in mind, we challenge you to find the plants in these products. The ingredients listed below are for the Impossible Burger, Beyond Burger, and Just Egg.

Some of the ingredients that contain manufactured free glutamate (MfG) — the toxic ingredient found in MSG — have been highlighted for you. Maybe they qualify as plant based. They are made in food processing and/or chemical plants.

Once you take a look at what these products are made from it will be obvious that they’re not meat, they’re not eggs, and they’re not the kinds of plants grown by farmers. A better name might be chemical-based junk foods.

Impossible Burger

Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12.

https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018937494-What-are-the-ingredients-

Beyond Burger Patties

Ingredients: Water, pea protein isolate, expeller-pressed canola oil, refined coconut oil, rice protein, natural flavors, cocoa butter, mung bean protein, methylcellulose, potato starch, apple extract, salt, potassium chloride, vinegar, lemon juice concentrate, sunflower lecithin, pomegranate fruit powder, beet juice extract (for color)

https://www.beyondmeat.com/products/the-beyond-burger/

Just Egg

Ingredients: Water, Mung Bean Protein Isolate, Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Contains less than 2% of Dehydrated Onion, Gellan Gum, Natural Carrot Extractives (color), Natural Flavors, Natural Turmeric Extractives (color), Potassium Citrate, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Sugar, Tapioca Syrup, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Transglutaminase, Nisin (preservative). (Contains soy.)

https://www.ju.st/en-us/products/consumer/egg/scramble

If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we’ll put them up on Facebook. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling.

Posted on

The Truth in Labeling Campaign: Who we are and why you should follow us

In a world filled with instant information coming at you from all directions, it has become increasingly difficult to tell fact from fiction, PR from journalism and reality from advertising.

This is where the Truth in Labeling Campaign, which is marking its 25th anniversary, can make a difference.

We are a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to the complete and clear labeling of ingredients in processed foods. We don’t rent space for fancy offices or pay our officers or directors a salary. We are beholden to no organization, advertiser, PR firm, donor or university. Our small budget comes entirely from contributions from volunteers.

Since the Truth in Labeling Campaign was incorporated in 1994, we have been providing fact-based information to consumers, many of whom have been trying to unravel mysterious health problems for years. Our focus has been on glutamic acid (glutamate), the excitotoxic (brain damaging) amino acid found in monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrolyzed proteins, autolyzed yeast, caseinates, maltodextrin, and some 40 additional ingredients used in quantity in processed foods, dietary supplements, and pharmaceuticals.

Over the past 25 years we’ve learned a lot about propaganda techniques used to benefit those who profit at the expense of human life and suffering. Ajinomoto, possibly the world’s largest producer of MSG, as well as the low-calorie sweetener known best as aspartame (or Equal), is only one among many. The cigarette, pharmaceutical, sugar, oil and chemical industries, as well as those who manufacture and sell GMOs, pesticides, and fertilizers, use similar tactics.

What we do
Our first challenge was to expose the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about MSG. But it wasn’t long before it became obvious that we had more to do than simply provide useful information to our followers. We found that there was, and still is, a large and extremely well-funded campaign purposely designed to keep consumers deceived and in the dark about the toxic effects of MSG, and the names of the many additives we’re ingesting on a daily basis that contain MSG and the excitotoxic manufactured free glutamate (or MfG) found in it.

TLC was founded by Jack Samuels, a health-care professional and his wife, Adrienne Samuels, an experimental psychologist by training, proficient in research methodology, statistics, research design and test construction – vital skills to have if you’re going to notice and unravel design flaws, detect fraudulent research and spot skewered study conclusions.

Long before either thought of putting up a web page, Adrienne was searching for answers that would help her understand Jack’s life-threatening sensitivity to MSG, which could put him into anaphylactic shock.

Finding those answers proved to be inordinately difficult, for the people to whom she was at first referred simply assured her that no one was sensitive to MSG. Richard Cristol, then executive director of Ajinomoto’s Glutamate Association, even sent her a book that he said would prove it.

The answers eventually came from individual consumers, manufacturers, food chemists, food technologists, food encyclopedias, trade magazines, people Jack met on airplanes, and above all, intuition. And over time, Jack and Adrienne found discrepancies between 1) scientific articles produced by independent scientists who found that MSG had toxic potential, and 2) claims made in seriously flawed studies by glutamate industry researchers that declared that MSG was harmless. (Details can be found at the TLC website here.)

Possibly the most flagrant violation of ethics has been use of double-blind studies wherein the number of reactions to MSG test material would be compared to those of a “placebo” containing excitotoxic amino acids. Aspartame, which contains excitotoxic aspartic acid, was the placebo material of choice, but glutamic acid in ingredients with names other than MSG were also used. Then, when subjects reacted to both test material and placebos, industry researchers claimed that was proof MSG was harmless.

The studies in question were approved by the FDA prior to their implementation.

Shortly after the Truth in Labeling Campaign was formed, it was joined by 29 doctors, researchers and parents of MSG-sensitive children, in filing a Citizen Petition asking that the FDA mandate labeling of all MfG added to processed foods.

When the Citizen Petition was denied, TLC filed a lawsuit requesting the same labeling standards. The FDA’s response was to invoke the Administrative Procedures Act, a rule allowing government agencies to refuse to disclose any evidence contained even in their own files that industry wanted withheld.

Realizing that the chances were slim to none that the hold the glutamate industry has over our “watchdog” and other regulatory agencies would ever allow potentially life-saving changes to be made in food labeling, TLC has focused on telling the public the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about MSG and MfG – one person at a time if necessary.

Do you care?
Chances are somewhere down the road that you or a loved one will encounter a glutamate-associated disorder, which can range from problems such as headaches, muscle pains, asthma, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to diabetes, atrial fibrillation, ischemia, trauma, seizures, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, epilepsy, addiction, frontotemporal dementia, autism, and even cancer.

Then there is brain damage. Glutamate (and aspartate and L-cysteine) kill brain cells — and one would not notice a few brain cells gone missing today and a few more gone missing tomorrow.

So, wouldn’t it be smart to avoid the trio of excitotoxins that are associated with those abnormalities and brain damage? It includes not only glutamate, but aspartate (found in aspartame), and L-cysteine (often used in bakery products) that are excitotoxic. The Truth in Labeling Campaign will help you to do that.

To learn more, click here for a free download of the book, It wasn’t Alzheimer’s, it was MSG, and the peer-reviewed published article The Toxicity/Safety of Processed Free Glutamic Acid (MSG): A Study in Suppression of Information.

We also invite you to visit TLC’s webpage at www.truthinlabeling.org, follow TLC on twitter (@truthlabeling), join TLC on Facebook and read our blogs.

Posted on

Moms Across America are setting a new standard for healthier shopping!

Zen Honeycutt is a force of nature. She’s doing what many of us just talk about. Setting up Gold Standard certification for food and beverages was brilliant. We hope you’ll use it — and recommend to family and friends that they do the same.

Remember, Big Food has no purpose other than to make money, and if you’re not buying their products, they’ll retool and make the Gold Standard products that you will buy.

Adrienne Samuels
Truth in Labeling Campaign

UNSTOPPABLE MOMS ACROSS AMERICA LAUNCHES THE GOLD STANDARD TO SHIFT THE MARKETPLACE TOWARD A HEALTHIER PLANET

Los Angeles, CA, September 12, 2019 – MomsAcrossAmerica.org has today announced the launch of the Moms Across America Gold Standard. Awarded to food, beverage and supplement brands that have achieved superior levels of organic practices and eco-friendly procedures, the bar-setting, multi-tiered verification will finally take the mystery out of shopping, making it simple for people to choose the healthiest products for themselves and their families and to use their wallets to take a stand against unhealthy alternatives and unethical business practices. Likewise, the standard also provides a path for companies that know better and do better to prosper by throwing the buying power and influence of millions of dedicated mothers behind their products.

MULTI-TIERED VERIFICATION PROGRAM CREATES A TRUSTWORTHY RESOURCE FOR CONSUMERS WHILE ENCOURAGING BEST PRACTICES BY SUPPLIERS, CREATING A WIN-WIN FOR HUMANITY AND THE PLANET.

The Moms Across America Gold Standard will evaluate and award brands based upon their verifiable commitment to health, integrity, transparency, and beyond sustainable- regenerative organic practices. On a scale of three to five stars, the three-tier standard is designed to include established, proven certifications while augmenting their benchmarks in some cases and supplementing them to create an exceptional level of verification for key components, such as ingredient transparency, fair wages, and packaging biodegradability.

THE MOMS ACROSS AMERICA GOLD STANDARD
AN EXCEPTIONAL STANDARD FOR A HEALTHIER WORLD

While the requirements vary slightly for food and supplements, to receive three Gold Stars a brand’s product must:

  • Provide total transparency, including “natural flavors,” and not include carrageenan, chlorine dioxide, synthetic food dyes or additives.
  • Be certified organic by the USDA or other certifiers (or BIODYNAMIC/Wildcrafted).
  • Be glyphosate herbicide tested or certified Glyphosate Residue-free.

To receive four Gold Stars a brand’s product must:

  • Meet all previous requirements.
  • Be Non-GMO Project Verified (including no synthetic biology) if the ingredients exist as GMO.
  • Heavy metal tested for 1.5x or more than the number of heavy metals in standard testing.
  • Tested for 2x more than the common pesticides and herbicides in current organic standards.
  • If animal products are used, they must be humanely raised.

To receive five Gold Stars a brand’s product must:

  • Meet all previous requirements.
  • Support the transition to Regenerative Organic Agriculture or BIODYNAMIC either through ingredients or by donation of a portion of sales.
  • Use Fair Trade practices and pay Fair Labor wages.
  • Use Low to No Pollution Packaging-utilizing 100% recycled materials, bioplastics or glass, or have a mail-in recycling program.

BioRay Meets Gold Standard

The first recipient of the Moms Across America Gold Standard is the environmental toxin remover Primary Detox from BIORAY®, which received the ultimate verification, 5 out of 5 stars, for its stellar accomplishment in raising the bar in the pursuit of clean, ethically manufactured, beyond-sustainable products. As well as having met the base requirements for the Moms Across America Gold Standard three-star verification, Primary Detox passed the test for non-detectable heavy metals, glyphosate, 429 and other pesticides. Furthermore, the company has taken the rare extra step to label their bottles with plant-based material that enables their glass bottles to be recyclable.

“We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Primary Detox from BIORAY® is the first Moms Across America Gold Standard product,” remarked Zen Honeycutt, Founder and Executive Director of Moms Across America. “Founded by mom and herbalist Dr. Stephanie Ray, BCN, CNHP, BIORAY® creates safe and effective herbal supplements with the utmost integrity. Our standards are high, and at the 5 Star level, BIORAY® is leading the way in creating a healthier world.”

“With the Moms Across America Gold Standard, we can measure and know that we are ingesting products free of environmental pollutants and genetically modified organisms that are also eco-responsible. This gives families products they can rely on to support the body as well as keep it clean; exactly what moms want!” said Dr. Ray, President and CEO of BIORAY®.

Moms Across America (MAA) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate and empower mothers and others with actions and solutions to create healthy communities. Their motto is “Empowered Moms, Healthy Kids”. The national coalition of mothers is dedicated to ensuring that the food we eat and feed our families is safe and healthy, with an emphasis on eliminating GMOs and glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup herbicide, from our food supply. A powerhouse activist organization, MAA reaches as many as more than four million followers on social media each month and millions in person with local events across the country. Among its many successes, the group is responsible for having initiated the first-ever glyphosate testing in tap water, urine, and breast milk in 2013. And it was their petition that convinced Costco to stop selling Roundup in their stores.

For more information, visit:
https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/gold_standard

Posted on

Medical mystery solved (one of many stories we have)

Dear Dr. Samuels,
I am writing first of all to tell you how very sorry I was to hear of Mr. Samuels’ death last year. I realize this is a bit late for condolences, but I know that even after a year and a half, he is greatly missed by those who loved him and also by those his life touched through his work.

I received my copy of your book The Man Who Sued the FDA (now titled It wasn’t Alzheimer’s, it was MSG) just yesterday morning in the post and could not put it down until I had finished all of it sometime late last night. It was a wonderful documentation in your words and Mr. Samuels’ of the journey the two of you have been on and the battles you have fought and won. Though I realize that in many ways, especially with Mr. Samuels’ untimely death and with the fact that the glutes continue to lie, cheat, steal and murder without shame that so many battles seem to have been won by the other side.

I have often felt a sense of despair in the knowledge that their adulteration of nearly every available food source continues to go on in even more hidden and illegal ways. My only hope is that as a Christian, I know there will be a day of reckoning for the men and women behind the deception and as I firmly believe murder, of so many who had no idea of what was really behind their illnesses, cancers and debilitations.

The main reason I am writing you is that I would very much like to say thank you for the long hours you have poured over research to uncover the truth, the support you gave your husband through his encounters with MSG and your continued presence on the web, which is where I first learned of the dangers of MSG myself just over three years ago.

My story is so like hundreds I know you have encountered of unexplained symptoms that progressed until I finally eliminated MSG (which as you so accurately stated in your book is never a battle that is completed for there is always something else adulterated by its presence). My husband was the first to notice changes in his health shortly after we were expatriated to China 9 years ago. For the first three years of living here, he could not get a confirmation that his problems were directly related to his threshold for MSG’s toxicity. By the process of elimination and through the information on your website and Debbie Anglesey’s website and also through Dr. Schwartz’s book we were given the information to begin eliminating processed foods that were causing the problem. We also seem to have adverse reactions to eating gluten as well and there seems to be very little written on this correlation, though I know one exists. What I am not sure of is if it is the gluten or the presence of MSG in the enhancers that are usually found within the bread recipes. Thankfully, I have always reacted badly almost instantly upon eating aspartame and so this has never been a problem for me; but as you know companies are putting it in items with regular sugar and in some cases my reactions tell me it was not identified on the label. It very much gives one the feeling of being one of those lab rats that have no control of what is being fed to them.

I continue to try to purchase and cook only whole foods, but recently we are reacting to simple apples, pears, of course the wine, and also meat that shouldn’t be adulterated but is. There is no such thing as reliable “organic” here and it is discouraging to say the least. It is also exhausting to have to cook everything you eat from scratch, but I am learning to make this more of a routine. I really appreciated your honesty in the book of how you struggled with the strain of constant vigilance for your husband. Our lives today seem far removed from the years we grew up eating so many things we had no idea that were altering our endocrine systems, destroying our brain cells and turning our bodies against us.

Thank you again for helping so many people like me and my family, who may not have the pleasure of meeting you and who didn’t have the privilege of meeting Mr. Samuels, but who will continue to think of both of you everyday we pass up that box, can or frozen dish in the grocery store; or think carefully about what to order in a restaurant.

Your work you have shared on your website and especially the work in your book will be treasured by me as I continue to try and think of ways to pass this information on to others. It is perhaps a slow and steady pursuit that will not end with the passing of Mr. Samuels and if God is willing, will continue in our children and their children as well.

God bless you, Dr. Samuels as you have blessed others who truly appreciate the cost you and your husband have paid, even when we cannot fully understand it.

If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we’ll put them up on Facebook. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling.

Posted on

Recognizing or diagnosing MSG adverse reactions

Identifying MSG sensitivity is extremely difficult.

The strangle-hold that chemical, food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, fertilizer, and pesticide industries have on the lives of Americans are nowhere better illustrated than in the glutamate industry’s ability to guarantee that MSG be hidden in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, dietary supplements and fertilizer/pesticide products.

These industrial giants have promoted the fiction that the pollutants and carcinogens poured into our food, drugs, cosmetics, fertilizers, and pesticides are not pollutants and carcinogens. They, through their wealth and positions of power, are ultimately responsible for medical school curricula that minimize the extent of the toxic effects of numerous pollutants and carcinogens – and are ultimately responsible for physicians’ failure to look to these pollutants and carcinogens as a basis for much of the disease that currently plagues us. It is they who make generous contributions to universities and medical schools that carry out their research designs. It is they who send friendly scientists on junkets around the world. It is they who are directly responsible for the refusal of the United States government to regulate the use of processed free glutamic acid (MSG) in food.

There is no straightforward way to identify MSG in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, or dietary supplements. A consumer may have an MSG-induced adverse reaction, but since MSG in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and dietary supplements is not identified as such on the label of the product, the consumer may not realize that (s)he has come into contact with MSG.

Making matters worse, the glutamate industry (the glutes) have sold the medical community on the fiction that reactions to MSG are allergic reactions–which is not true. The glutes urge physicians to give allergy tests to people who might be MSG-sensitive, knowing full well that the MSG adverse reaction is a reaction to a toxin, not a reaction to an allergenic substance, and, as such, is not IgE mediated. Traditional allergy tests only identify reactions that are IgE mediated.

The only way to determine if a person is sensitive to MSG is to feed MSG to that person and observe him or her for as long as 48 hours after feeding; or to have the person keep a record of food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and dietary supplement use and any MSG reactions.

Learning to pinpoint MSG as a reaction trigger, recognizing reactions that might be MSG-induced adverse reactions, and understanding where MSG is hidden in food, are essential to recognizing or diagnosing MSG-induced adverse reactions.

If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we’ll put them up on Facebook. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling.

Posted on

Hydrolyzed Pea Protein

Ingredients called “protein” on ingredient lists are not proteins.

Beef is “beef,” soy is “soy,” tomatoes are “tomatoes,” and peas are “peas.” Those are the FDA’s “common or usual names” for whole foods. “Pea protein” is made of man-made amino acids manufactured in food processing plants with peas as the starting material. And each and every man-made/manufactured hydrolyzed pea protein will contain the three potentially toxic amino acids* aspartic acid, L-cysteine, and glutamic acid. This is true for every hydrolyzed protein. It may be called “natural,” “organic,” or “raw,” but it will still contain potentially toxic aspartic acid, L-cysteine, and glutamic acid. There are no exceptions. And there are no toxic amino acids in whole protein.

Today, there is a widespread marketing effort to substitute hydrolyzed vegetable protein for real protein, and to expand the use of hydrolyzed proteins in general. While there certainly are other varieties of hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, pea protein is presently the favorite of food manufacturers.

Substituting vegetables for meat may have many benefits for consumers, but hydrolyzed vegetable proteins don’t deliver vegetables. What they provide are arrays of amino acids which are produced in food processing and/or chemical plants. And three of those amino acids (L-cysteine, aspartic acid, and glutamic acid) can be toxic to humans. These three amino acids are called “excitotoxins” by scientists. When consumed in amounts that exceed what a human needs for normal body function, they cause brain damage, endocrine disorders, and observable reactions such as asthma, migraine headache, a-fib, fibromyalgia, and seizures. Glutamic acid is the amino acid in MSG that causes brain damage, endocrine disruption, and adverse reactions.

Manufacturers’ claims of benefits for manufacturers

1) Hydrolyzed vegetable proteins are making great inroads into health and nutrition markets.

2) Every hydrolyzed protein will have flavor-enhancing properties. Glutamic acid, the amino acid that triggers taste buds to cause increased perception of taste, will be found in all hydrolyzed proteins.

3) Clean labels are certainly at the top of the list. Unfortunately, not all consumers have caught on to the fact that glutamic acid (a.k.a. glutamate), which is the toxic component of MSG, will be found in all hydrolyzed proteins. So while more and more consumers are attempting to avoid MSG, substituting a flavor-enhancing hydrolyzed vegetable protein for flavor-enhancing MSG would allow the product to have a “clean label” – one that would give the consumer no clue that it contained glutamate, MSG’s toxic component.

4) Hydrolyzed vegetable proteins will have great appeal for vegetarians, vegans and others who want to limit their intake of meat.

Manufacturers’ claims of benefits for consumers (which will also benefit industry)

1) Protein-rich, non-animal products are in great demand as more and more people look for substitutes for meat, fish, and poultry. Hydrolyzed proteins contain the arrays of amino acids that make up most proteins. So, properly promoted, hydrolyzed protein products will appeal to those looking for vegetarian or vegan sources of dietary protein. The fact that high-protein diets are being touted for weight-loss, makes these products even more attractive.

2) Chemical-free claims are another way the food industry is hyping hydrolyzed proteins. Although all hydrolyzed proteins are produced in food processing and/or chemical plants, industry’s promotional materials refer to hydrolyzed vegetable proteins as being “natural” – saying they are derived from a variety of “natural plant resources.”

That should be no surprise since MSG, which is made by fermentation of carefully selected genetically engineered bacteria that secrete glutamic acid through their cell walls, is referred to by industry as “naturally occurring.”

A production flow sheet for manufacturing hydrolyzed vegetable protein

3) Claims of health benefits from hydrolyzed vegetable proteins are typically made. Market-watchers claim that consumer awareness of these so-called benefits is increasing. The claim has been made that hydrolyzed vegetable proteins will help reduce intake of saturated fat and cholesterol, and because it’s an effective way to lower cholesterol, it will decrease the risk of heart disease.

But even with all that propaganda going for it, something is still bothering the glutamate industry.

You’d think that with all their research and planning, glutamate industry giants would feel secure in their efforts to sell hydrolyzed proteins to naïve consumers. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. It would appear that consumers’ growing recognition of the toxic effects of the manufactured glutamic acid in MSG, hydrolyzed proteins, maltodextrin, and some other 40+ ingredients is getting in the way of sales. One industry watcher said it this way, “The high contents of monosodium glutamate (MSG) in hydrolyzed protein products continues to be a bottleneck for pervasive adoption as consumers show an unprecedented alacrity** to read labels to spot ingredients with a bad rep in terms of potential side effects.”

The Truth in Labeling Campaign would like to take some of the credit for that greater consumer awareness and “alacrity.” So, let’s hear it for the Truth in Labeling Campaign — since 1994, providing consumers with the names of ingredients in which manufactured free glutamate, the brain-damaging, endocrine-disrupting, reaction-causing component of MSG, are hidden.

*killing brain cells and disrupting the endocrine system when present in quantity
**enthusiasm, readiness, quickness, promptness, speed, swiftness, rapidity, keenness, zeal

If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we’ll put them up on Facebook. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling.

Posted on

Is the FDA doing its best to put CBD into the pockets of Big Food and Big Pharma?

Why would the FDA warn consumers against CBD? They don’t issue alerts about ingesting food with residues of glyphosate in it. They don’t warn about the excitotoxic amino acids in the low-calorie sweetener know as aspartame, Equal, or AminoSweet. They don’t even tell the consumer that “diet sodas” actually prevent weight loss. And for sure they don’t tell consumers about the excitotoxic amino acids in monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrolyzed protein, and protein powders that cause brain damage, endocrine disorders, and reactions such as a-fib, asthma, migraine headache, and seizures.

Many years ago, I set out to uncover what was causing my husband to go into anaphylactic shock. We knew that monosodium glutamate was a trigger, but he’d have reactions at times when there was no monosodium glutamate in anything he had consumed. I read everything I could get my hands on, and along the way I realized that there were two kinds of information circulating about the safety of MSG — one published by independent scientists who found MSG to have toxic potential and another published by the people who manufacture MSG.

Another interesting discovery I made was that the FDA wasn’t looking out for the welfare of the individual consumer. The FDA was looking out for the welfare of people who worked at the FDA — those who looked out for Big Food and Big Pharma while they were at the FDA and took cushy jobs with Big Food and Big Pharma (or their law firms or PR firms) upon leaving the agency. Or people like Michael Taylor who moved between formal employment with Monsanto and the USDA, and Monsanto and the FDA, all the while guaranteeing that things like aspartame and bST were approved, directly or indirectly, for use in food.

My take on the FDA’s CBD warnings is that it has to do with Big Pharma’s long-term program for reaping great profits from CBD — starting with FDA approval of the obscenely priced drug Epidiolex, recently OK’d for childhood seizures. But for that to be successful, Big Pharma also has to obliterate its competition. Warning consumers about CBD is just the start of FDA attacks on CBD products that don’t put money into the pockets of Big Pharma and Big Food.

Adrienne Samuels

If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we’ll put them up on Facebook. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling.