MSG being sprayed on crops??

[Heritagefarm]

I just found out about this.
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/msgsprayed.html

In the 1970s, reluctant food processors "voluntarily" took processed free glutamic acid (MSG) out of baby food. Today it's back, in fertilizers called "Omega Protein Refined/Hydrolyzed Fish Emulsion" and "Steam Hydrolyzed Feather Meal," both of which contain hydrolyzed proteins; and in a product called AuxiGro WP Plant Metabolic Primer (AuxiGro) produced by Emerald BioAgriculture (formerly Auxein Corporation), which contains both hydrolyzed protein(s) and "monosodium glutamate." AuxiGro is being sprayed on some of the vegetables we and our children will eat, into the air we and our children must breath, and onto the ground from which it can move into drinking water.

And, apparently, it's moving to organic foods, too.

[Bearfootfarm]

What's your point?:

The carboxylate anions and salts of glutamic acid are known as glutamates. In neuroscience, glutamate is an important neurotransmitter which plays a key role in long-term potentiation and is important for learning and memory.

Although they occur naturally in many foods, the flavor contributions made by glutamic acid and other amino acids were only scientifically identified early in the twentieth century.

Glutamate is a key molecule in cellular metabolism. In humans, dietary proteins are broken down by digestion into amino acids, which serve as metabolic fuel for other functional roles in the body

All meats, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, as well as kombu are excellent sources of glutamic acid. Some protein-rich plant foods also serve as sources. Thirty to 35% of the protein in wheat is glutamic acid. Ninety-five percent of the dietary glutamate is metabolized by intestinal cells in a first pass

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamic_acid

[next1]

Very common ingredient into the Asian markets and food cooked into the Asian restaurants, MSG I should say. That is the reason why my head hurts so bad after I eat "chow-mein"... my brain cells are dying!!!!!!!

Bearfoot, read the whole article... the problem is not the glutamic acid that is found into the naturally occurring proteins but the synthetic one...!!!!

[Callieslamb]

MSG makes you want to eat more....that's one of the problems with it. it's a flavor inhancer they add to foods to make them taste better. I am not sure spraying it on crops affects us. Goats can eat poison ivy and we can still drink the milk.

[copperkid3]

Again....what's your point HeritageFarms??? Are you 'implying' that the MSG somehow migrates across
cell boundaries and remains with the harvested plant product??? If so, then without further documented
research.....it's just 'junk science'.....meant to twist your panties in a wad, BEFORE you
actually get to sit on them and see whether they fit or not!!!

[geo in mi]

Many of the field studies are showing "no significant difference" in yield when applied vs. control plots. So, it's doubtful this product will have much importance in the future. Especially when consumer watchdogs go around marching and tooting horns against it.

geo

[Cascade Failure]

If anyone is spraying MSG around here it must be Makes Slugs Grow.

[Callieslamb]

Maybe it inhances the plants' appetites and makes them grow bigger? would be interesting to know their rationale for spraying. Maybe it helps stuff stick or prolongs the life of the fertilizers?

[texican]

I might be a bit concerned if they were spraying it on something that's already been harvested, and in the production chain.

Placing something on plants themselves to make them grow... less, if not zero, concerns.

I regularly place chicken manure, cow manure, goat manure on my plants.... they really seem to like it...

However, I wouldn't want to eat any manure, just like I turn down stuff with MSG on it...

From my limited (no BS in Biology) biological knowledge, plants take up nutrients and change them, producing more plant material. Trying to take that plant material and figuring out what it 'ate' is problematic...

[Bearfootfarm]

Bearfoot, read the whole article... the problem is not the glutamic acid that is found into the naturally occurring proteins but the synthetic one

I did read it, and it's full of hype and speculation.

It's produced by bacteria.

There is nothing "synthetic" about it, and NO proven harmful effects

From the article:

No one knows what the long term effects of spraying processed free glutamic acid on crops will be.

And then there's this:

A report from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) compiled in 1995 on behalf of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded that MSG is safe for most people when “eaten at customary levels”.
However, it also said that, based on anecdotal reports, some people may have an MSG intolerance that causes “MSG symptom complex” and/or a worsening of asthmatic symptoms.[17]

Subsequent research found that, while large doses of MSG given without food may elicit more symptoms than a placebo in individuals who believe that they react adversely to MSG, the frequency of the responses was low and the responses reported were inconsistent, not reproducible, and not observed when MSG was given with food.[18]

No statistical association has been demonstrated under controlled conditions, even in studies with people convinced that they are sensitive to it.[18][19][20][21]

Adequately controlling for experimental bias includes a double-blind placebo-controlled (DBPC) experimental design and the application in capsules because of the strong and unique after-taste of glutamates.[19]

In a study performed by Tarasoff and Kelly (1993) subjects were given 5 g of MSG to 71 fasting participants, and then administered a standard breakfast. There was only one reaction, and it was to the placebo in a self-identified MSG sensitive individual. [16]

In a different study done by Geha et al. (2000), they tested the reaction of 130 subjects that reported sensitivity to MSG. Multiple DBPC were performed and only subjects with at least two symptoms proceeded. Only 2 people out of the whole study responded in all four challenges. Because of this low prevalence, the researchers concluded that the response to MSG was not reproducible

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate


It's just the usual hysteria

[How Do I]

Y'all better quit drinking all that 'synthetic' beer and whiskey then. Might make you act weird or something.

[Harry Chickpea]

I have a bit of an unverified theory about MSG. MSG can be harvested from kelp. If you ever see dried kelp for sale in a Whole Foods, that white stuff on it IS MSG. I think most of the MSG from the 1970s period was from sea sources. Remember that it was used in Chinese food, and that is where and when the bulk of the folks had problems with MSG headaches in the 1970s.

The sea also has issues like "red tide" which forms a neurotoxin, and who knows what pollution in the area of China and Japan.

I suspect (no proof) that the MSG being used back then was tainted with trace amounts of red tide neurotoxins or other chemicals. I do know that many of the folks who had problems back then with MSG do not now. (Others may have been sensitized so that they still have reactions, even though the component that causes them is no longer present in the product.) I've experienced a similar effect a couple of times from fresh seafood. I had some red snapper once in Florida that gave the exact same band headache as MSG used to, but about three times as bad.

Literally, MSG is a component of meats. If you don't get a headache from eating meat, you can rule out simple cause and effect from MSG. Like any foodstuff, someone, somewhere, is going to be allergic to it or have bad reactions from it.

[next1]

No offense but 50 years ago, asbestos, tobacco, and other products were considered safe to use in everyday life. We are at the mercy of the so called "scientific" studies that were bought and paid for by the ones that have only one purpose; making money.
Why do I need to eat food that it's been sprayed with MSG? That report that has been compiled in 1995 in behalf of FDA is probably paid for by the ones that produce these chemicals... Can't prove that but hey, great money making opportunity for health care industry.
Speaking of MSG, Chinese roasted duck is not bad...!

[arabian knight]

For one thing, it is not the Food That is being sprayed, it IS the Plants which are, which makes big difference.
Plants or vegetables if it was ripen fruits or food ready to be picked, that would not be good.
But after all it is the growing plants etc. that are being sprayed and not ready to be shipped. So that is not a good comparison at all. After all many people even let their "gray" water flow over their garden, or even pump their septic up and on the garden, Which in doing a comparison like that, would be much worse then this spraying MSG is.

[rambler]

There does need to be a balanced view of what is 'safe' and what isn't.

We can test for parts per billion these days, when parts per million were a stretch 25 years ago. We likely test things a lot closer & more detailed these days.

As such, it's hard to get worked up over some hypothetical hype that really doesn't say anything.

We got a lot of people on this planet, and if we care about our fellow man & woman, in addition ro safe food, we need a lot of food.

Banning or avoiding products that don't appear to have any harm at all might not be the most neighborly choice either, if one looks at the _facts_ and what the world needs.

It's great to raise your own food and do so in ways you prefer, be they wasteful or low-yielding or super high yeilding or full of extra stuff....

If one is looking att he global food supply,that is a different thing. One needs to go forward with knowledge & good research & a bigger view of what is good and what is bad,and how you will affect millions.

Sure, the big companies want to grow food cheaply. But then, the masses need to get cheap food as well.... Not any one extreme is 'right' here.

This particular issue seems pretty low on the radar?

--->Paul

[Trixie]

The problem is the fact the only way we could ever know the effects of any of the things being used in and on food would be to be able to look into the future somewhere between 5 and 50 years.

We can't seem to get a straight answer. There is no way the corporations making it are going to be upfront about it. There are also a lot of people with their own agenda that will twist it another way - and that is sad.

I just read the government has taken saccharin off the 'dangerous' list. Imagine that -

[Heritagefarm]

Originally Posted by rambler

Sure, the big companies want to grow food cheaply. But then, the masses need to get cheap food as well.... Not any one extreme is 'right' here.

This particular issue seems pretty low on the radar?

--->Paul

1. The solution, therefore, is for the consumer to pay a tad more for healthy food. It can be seen as an investment of sorts: eat good food... live longer, be healthier, and make the farmers healthier and soil healthier in turn. It's a win-win-win situation that way.
2. Yes, I think in the overall scheme of things, the MSG is a pretty moot point.

[bergere]

I know a couple of people allergic to any MSG.
So having farmers putting it on their plants and not telling people about isn't good.

[Trixie]

Originally Posted by Callieslamb

MSG makes you want to eat more....that's one of the problems with it. it's a flavor inhancer they add to foods to make them taste better. I am not sure spraying it on crops affects us. Goats can eat poison ivy and we can still drink the milk.

Do they really? I know I want some goats - we can't get rid of the poison ivy in our yard, and after years of pulling it up with my bare hands, I have suddenly become allergic to it - am battling some right now.

I'm guessing most people are concerned about growing enough food for the future population, but it's how it is done that concerns me.

Maybe there are better ways to do this than simply creating new products that may - or may not - be good for mankind?

Why not encourage smaller families? I don't mean it should be forced, or if one can afford and chooses to have a large family, that's fine. The fact is, though, overpopulation will be a big part of the equation in the future need for food.

Water is going to be a huge factor in sustaining life - and I'm not sure there is going to be enough water to allow the use of clean water to be used in the amounts it is now to grow food.

Also, might not more emphasis on improving soil, finding or developing strains that use less food and fertilizer?

I have seen people use gray water on their gardens, but not septic water. Now I have read using human waste is common in a lot of the world. According to an article I read, Mexico City's sewage and rain gutters simply run together and is pumped outside the city and onto vegetable fields. Since we import a lot of food from Mexico, and other countries, we are probably eating some things we would rather not know about.

[Jena]

Originally Posted by Trixie

I have seen people use gray water on their gardens, but not septic water. Now I have read using human waste is common in a lot of the world. According to an article I read, Mexico City's sewage and rain gutters simply run together and is pumped outside the city and onto vegetable fields. Since we import a lot of food from Mexico, and other countries, we are probably eating some things we would rather not know about.

Human waste is good fertilizer and it's sustainable! The more you feed people, the more you get! Can't get any better than that!