MediaPost recently named Campbell's their 2008 "Food Marketer of the Year," in no small part due to their "feisty head-on assault on General Mills' Progresso." Now, I practically do live under a rock and even I've seen these ads -- Campbell's is all, "Hey, Progresso, there's MSG in your soup," and Progresso is all, "Nuh-uh! My soup is as pure as the driven snow! And your soup is just crawling with the stuff!"
What I don't get is, why'd they choose this particular battleground? Especially since both of them use MSG in most, if not all, of their products, even if they're correctly stating that they have a number of products that don't have pure monosodium glutamate" among the ingredients.
In both the print and the TV ads from both Campbell's and Progresso, when they're touting their lines of "MSG-free" soups, you'll see small print at the bottom to the gist of "no MSG...excluding that which naturally occurs in hydrolyzed vegetable protein" or "excluding that which occurs in autolyzed yeast extract," depending on whose salvo in the ad war you're seeing.
Trouble is, these ingredients listed in the fine print are flavor enhancers that are used in the same manner as MSG and that include some of the same compounds -- free glutamates -- that are thought to cause the umami flavors and potential adverse health effects in sensitive individuals that MSG does. This is why the FDA considers it misleading to label foods with hydrolyzed vegetable proteins as containing "no MSG" or "no added MSG." Autolyzed yeast extract, another ingredient added mainly for the free glutamates, is a similar compound. Yet these ads are clearly intended to leave the impression that many of both companies' products are free from ingredients that many consumers may want to avoid.
Consumers do believe claims that are stated this clearly in advertisements. Claims about MSG in food are one place where enforcement is lacking, and anywhere product labeling is misleading or inaccurate, consumers with allergies or sensitivities lose.
- Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal: Progresso, Campbell's Soup War Reaches Boiling Point
- Truth in Labeling: Misleading and Deceptive Use of 'No MSG' to Hide MSG
Why are the food companies so determined to load our food with MSG anyway?! It’s not good for anyone, and many people are allergic to it and everyone knows it so why don’t they just stop it! I’ll never understand. :~(
It’s all about profit. Here is an example. You can take a half of a chicken add a little MSG and now it taste like a whole chicken. Foods without MSG added require more real ingredients to make them taste as good. That is why products without MSG are generally more expensive. So food with MSG means higher profits for producers and when you produce products for billions and billions of people… well you get the point. The way MSG accomplishes this miraculous feat is quite disturbing. For more info (http://www.msgmyth.com/discus/messages/board-topics.html). Trying to stop MSG is like trying to stop the tobacco industry. They know the hazards but greed prevails. The MSG industry is more powerful than the oil industry. Not everyone needs oil, but we all need food. The tobacco industry got what was coming to them so will the MSG industry eventually… I just hope I get to see it in my lifetime:) We have been deceived long enough!
It’s all about profit. Here is an example. You can take a half of a chicken add a little MSG and now it taste like a whole chicken. Foods without MSG added require more real ingredients to make them taste as good. That is why products without MSG are generally more expensive. So food with MSG means higher profits for producers and when you produce products for billions and billions of people… well you get the point. The way MSG accomplishes this miraculous feat is quite disturbing. For more info (http://www.msgmyth.com/discus/messages/board-topics.html). Trying to stop MSG is like trying to stop the tobacco industry. They know the hazards but greed prevails. The MSG industry is more powerful than the oil industry. Not everyone needs oil, but we all need food. The tobacco industry got what was coming to them so will the MSG industry eventually… I just hope I get to see it in my lifetime:) We have been deceived long enough!
i appreciate this article because i’m tired of the many who claim that MSG only exists in Chinese food when in fact its in many American foods. for instance, its in flavored potato chips like tostitos ‘with a hint of lime’ or pringles ‘bbq flavored chips’. basically, if its not a plain bag of potato chips most likely you’ll find MSG.
its in more foods than people realize.