You would have noticed that some delicacies simply taste heavenly! Kikunae Ikeda, a Japanese scientist, found out that the extraordinary taste in certain dishes comes from Glutamate, an ingredient that occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables. He named it Umami. Is Umami a blend of different tastes like sweet & sour? Or can we call this the Fifth taste? That, according to Kikunae Ikeda, is entirely up to us.
Ajinomoto, or Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG), is prepared by the simple process of fermentation, like how we prepare curd from milk. MSG is prepared with natural vegetable ingredients like sugarcane, sugar-beet or tapioca. The MSG manufactured by the company named Ajinomoto, comes from sugarcane & tapioca. It has the capacity to enhance the taste of food menu/ dishes. You can add this to sambar, rasam, vegetable fries, soups, and curries – any dishes accept bitter & sweet dishes and make them taste much better.
Ajinomoto, with its headquarters based in Japan, is selling its products all over the world. In order to prove that the product is safe and harmless, we have obtained the highest possible quality clearance in each of these countries. In India it is approve by FSSAI.
Safety certificate is issued in countries like the United States of America, Japan, Thailand and India, only after strict tests. We are marketing the taste enhancer
Mono Sodium Glutamate, AJI-NO-MOTO® (Umami taste enhancer) all over the world. This is manufactured with natural ingredients, and without adding any chemicals, and hence are good for health. But, the world market is flooded with Chinese and locally manufactured duplicate products with false labels. The consumers must remain alert about such fraudulently manufactured products and use only genuine MSG. “On our part, we too are trying our best to take all necessary precautions to remove these duplicate products,” said Mr, Govinda Biswas, Ajinomoto’s Marketing Manager in India.
Mr. Atsushi Mishuku, the Managing Director of Ajinomoto India Private Limited, pointed out that the production factory set up near Kancheepuram, Chennai, provides employment to many, and added that it was necessary in order to distribute and market the products as swiftly as possible. On the quality of MSG, he said that one of the ingredients, ‘Glutamate,’ is present in mother’s breast milk also.
Since it is also present in breast milk, It is safe for consumption of infant also, he said.
Further elaborating, he said, “In addition to Ajinomoto, we also manufacture Happima Fried Rice mix; a complete seasoning to make fried rice; Blendy, 3-in-1instant coffee and Masala Chai mix; Hapima Crispy Fry Mix to prepare crispy fried restaurant style chicken at home and A&M Noodles.
The market has reacted very encouragingly to these products. With your blessings and support, we would live to grow further and serve you even better,” Mr. Atsushi Mishuku said, confidently.
In the current scenario, a family can sustain itself only when both the husband and wife work. It has become normal for the husbands to buy readymade dough batter for the next day. Since both of them have to leave for work at the same time, preparing food has now become a challenging task. Unfortunately, the current generation has accustomed itself to having their breakfasts in the hotels and lunches at their office canteens.
“Healthy nutritious food” has become unavailable for them. In these tough times, certain fraudulent companies ride on the backs of other products and flood the markets with cheap imitations. 90 percent of the Indian consumers are more interested in procuring items that cost less, instead of quality and originality. This is exploited by these fraudulent companies.
We as consumers confront various false information on the internet that consuming Ajinomoto could be hazardous to health, thereby confusing the users. Are those facts true? Only a very few among us take the trouble to find out if such information is true and differentiate between real and fake products.
The Japanese company Ajinomoto is taking earnest steps to counter this negative publicity and false information campaign. At least from this point onwards, instead of blindly believing anything that appears on the internet, we must be able to cultivate the swan’s talent (of separating milk from water) and believe only in the truth.