worried about "natural flavorings" in meats

So, I've been reading about how food companies will often cover up the fact that they are using MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) by simply calling it "natural flavoring" in ingredients labels, and now I'm very curious of where I can find some poultry meat (chicken or turkey) that doesn't have any. 

Maybe I'm being too critical/paranoid , but this just really bothers me, and even more so because I'm trying to gain weight (recovering from an ED), and I told my mom I'd eat these fairly expensive turkey burgers, but now I see that they have "natural flavoring."  Its frustrating because this, of course, makes me anxious about eating them, anxious about dissapointing her, and anxious about not getting enough protein in while I'm trying to gain muscle as I gain weight.

ANY suggestions, advice, etc, is greatly appreciated :) Thanks!

Very easy.... just buy fresh, raw meat from a good butcher.   It shouldn't have any additional extras in it whatsoever.   Buy fresh chicken, season and grill.... very simple.  Buy fresh turkey, make turkey burgers, flavour them with breadcrumbs, herbs, salt and pepper and then you know exactly what's in them. 

Just curious but what have you got against MSG?

Hmm..yeah I suppose that would make things easy, but I'm not sure if we have any butchers in my area.  I'll check later tonight.  And as for why I don't want to consume MSG:

 "The ingredient “monosodium glutamate was invented in Japan in 1908.4 The inventor, Kikunae Ikeda, identified the flavor enhancing substance of seaweed, recognizing that Asians had used seaweed for flavoring for thousands of years. Shortly thereafter, he and a partner formed Ajinomoto, currently a six billion dollar firm, that is the world’s largest producer of MSG. Use of the product was minimal in our country until after World War II, when it was introduced to the United States food industry as a flavoring agent that our military discovered made Japanese army rations more palatable than our own. Many may remember when pure monosodium glutamate became available in our stores in a product called “Accent.

In 1968, a Chinese physician who immigrated to our country, Dr. Robert Ho Man Kwok, wrote a letter to the editor of The New England Journal of Medicine5 to ask for help in determining why he and friends suffered numbness, weakness, and palpitations when they dined in certain Chinese restaurants. He reported that the condition occurred 15 to 20 minutes following the meal and lasted about two hours. The letter was published under the heading “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. Published responses that followed indicated that Dr. Kwok’s problem was a reaction to monosodium glutamate and -- as industry protested -- the debate over the safety of MSG began.

About the same time, John W. Olney, M.D., a neuroscientist at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri who recently had been appointed to the National Academy of Science, noted that mice being fed MSG for a study of retinal deterioration had become grotesquely obese.6 Believing that the obesity was related to the function of the hypothalamus in the brain, he sacrificed MSG-fed mice and found that MSG caused hypothalamus lesions and neuroendocrine disorders, and that the very young were at particular risk. Neuroscientists now generally agree that glutamic acid is neurotoxic, killing brain neurons by exciting them to death."

<http://www.becomehealthynow.com/article/dietb ad/32/>

I know that everything written in books and on the internet isn't true, and that the "truth" often changes over time, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
 

Oh yeah, I meant to thank you for your responses :)

Original Post by kate777:

Hmm..yeah I suppose that would make things easy, but I'm not sure if we have any butchers in my area. 

How about your local supermarket then?   Surely, you're not trying to tell me that if you buy a pack/tray boneless chicken breasts or rump steaks they've all got MSG or other flavourings added?  

If you are in the USA, you don't have to worry about MSG being hidden in your food under that guise of "natural flavoring".  Current law requires that that the label says "MSG" and that it also discloses the amount of MSG used.

Yeah, gi-jane, I think I'm okay because I looked at this turkey breast my dad's thawing out tonight: it says"all natural" all over, that it has "no preservatives," and that it was "minimally processed."  Hope that last part's okay... : /

As for not having to worry about MSG being hidden under the guise of "natural flavoring", you should read a few paragraphs from this website:

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/nomsg.html

This was actually the reason I decided to start this topic in the first place.

The site you linked seems to be implying that any food that can release glutamic acid should be of concern.  Given that glutamic acid is one of the 20 amino acids our bodies use to make protein, that position doesn't make any sense.

MSG is a preservative - if your item says 'no preservatives' then it contains no MSG.

My husband gets migraines from consuming MSG or caffiene.  We basically buy nothing that's previously processed, which makes for healthier dinners overall.  We've had no problem with hamburger, but avoid sausage.  We avoid sea salt, because it can contain MSG.  I bought a chicken stock once that said 'no msg' but did contain sea salt. He got a terrible migraine, and when I called the company, they finally admitted that the stock is made in the same factory that also makes products with MSG.  So, no more store bougt stocks.  Sea salt is a pain because most 'healthy' foods, including Silk soy milk, contains sea salt, since that's the new trendy thing to do.  If I hadn't seen my husband have a reaction to sea salt with my own eyes, and I hadn't made the soup myself so I knew exactly everything that was in it, I wouldn't have believed it either.

Also - MSG is also called hydrolzyed soy, yeast extract, and goes under a number of other names as well.  We do however avoid anything with the label of 'spices' because I think MSG can fall under that.

I avoid anything with the label 'natural flavors' because dried chicken bones is a natural flavor.  For that matter, rat poo could be considered a 'natural flavor'.  If the original flavor of the food isn't good enough by itself, I just don't buy it. 

Original Post by kate777:

About the same time, John W. Olney, M.D., a neuroscientist at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri who recently had been appointed to the National Academy of Science, noted that mice being fed MSG for a study of retinal deterioration had become grotesquely obese.6 Believing that the obesity was related to the function of the hypothalamus in the brain, he sacrificed MSG-fed mice and found that MSG caused hypothalamus lesions and neuroendocrine disorders, and that the very young were at particular risk. Neuroscientists now generally agree that glutamic acid is neurotoxic, killing brain neurons by exciting them to death."

<http://www.becomehealthynow.com/article/dietb ad/32/>

 None of this information means anything without knowing the dose of MSG that the mice in the studies were fed.  Everything (even water) is toxic.  People die from consumption of water, it's that toxic.  The reason most people don't die from water poisoning is that they don't consume a high enough dose.

If the amounts of MSG contained in the 'natural flavoring' of meats was high enough to cause the symptoms listed above, wouldn't there be a lot more people with those symptoms? have you ever met anyone that ate any meat with 'natural flavoring'? did that person have any of the symptoms observed in mice?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/j ul/10/foodanddrink.features3

From everything I've read since I wondered about MSG a few months ago, the amounts of MSG in the mouse studies that caused harm were HUGE.  A person would have to be eating nothing but MSG all day to get equivalent amounts.  This article talks about the smear campaign that has been waged against MSG.  Take it for what you will, but it does have a list of alternate names used for MSG at the end that you may find useful if you're trying to avoid it, or like me, just wonder what's in your food :)

Wow, thanks, these all seem like very good points to consider, and I have taken into account that the dosages the rats were given were probably not equivalent to what is in our food.  And as for the accuracy of that site...well I don't know...the safety concerns surrounding food, lotions, make up, etc, is so conflicting these days, and it seems that you never know what is actually harmful until your already in the hostpital.  I don't know for sure about any of these "dangerous preservatives," but basically research seems to show that the effects all happen slowly, after a long period of time with repeated consumption.  I don't want to wait until I get sick to stop consuming these things, you know? 

Actually, food can labe MSG under psuedonyms if it is not at least 97+% msg. So this stuff is horrible for people, it causes all sorts of health problems. You can still gain weight without eating this crap!! Buy organic! Don't buy anything that has been prespiced or processes.

Also, they spray fruits and vegetables with this stuff...so buy organic there too!!

Here is a link to all the names that has msg in: http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources. html

Here are some books as well:

Robert Blaylock, Excitotoxins: the taste that kills

John Erb, The Slow Poisoning of America

The 100 year lie and the Crazy Makers

Good luck! My best friend has been in recovery from an ED for 8 yrs. It was a very long hard process for her. She had been in ICU many times on the verge of death. I wish you luck and the strength to overcome it!!