Monosodium Glutamate
Monosodium Glutamate carries a source-backed screening score of 3/5 and appears in 136 indexed US food products.
Source-backed answer
Monosodium Glutamate appears in 136 catalogued products. CSPI has no rating attached in this snapshot. Its FDA SAFFA status is “GRAS.” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 136
- catalogued products
- #2,516
- usage rank of 247,206
- 24
- named brands represented
- 51%
- average depth down ingredient lists
Catalog prevalence comes from Open Food Facts ingredient lists. FDA SAFFA and CSPI Chemical Cuisine labels are shown only when the source record contains them.
Monosodium Glutamate: top-decile catalog footprint (#2,516 of 247,206)
- Usage rank
- #2,516
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 10 others that also appear in exactly 136 products, listed in more products than 99% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 51%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 136 products listing it (mean slot 12.4). Monosodium Glutamate usually falls in the lower half of the list; this position does not measure its amount because source formatting, compound ingredients and labeling exceptions vary.
Derived by this site from the ingredient lists of every catalogued product (Open Food Facts), recomputed on each data refresh. 247,206 ingredients have at least one appearance and are ranked here. Usage and list position describe prevalence, not safety.
What this page can and cannot answer
Separate this ingredient from its product neighborhood
This is a mixed product neighborhood: 47 of 136 records have some flagged component, while the rest do not. Compare better made sweet bbq flavored potato chips; Bo Kho Stewed Beef Seasoning; Bouillon cubes to see how surrounding formulations change; do not assign their 0–100 score range to Monosodium Glutamate itself. The ingredient most often sits in the lower half of the list, and Condiments supplies the most useful like-for-like starting point for a label review.
47 of 136 linked records have some flagged component
All 136 NOVA-classified records cluster most heavily in Group 4, while the first-category labels split across several shelves. That makes the 0–100 score spread more informative than the average alone: investigate the low end, identify the actual flagged row, and compare it with a similar unflagged formulation before drawing a conclusion.
Next check: pair one flagged product with a similar unflagged product from the same shelf category.
What else is usually in the same product as Monosodium Glutamate
Across the 136 products on this site that list Monosodium Glutamate, these flagged additives appear alongside it most often. The comparison column is how often each one appears across every product with a parsed ingredient list, so the two figures are measured over the same set. Caramel Coloring shows up about 2.8x more often with Monosodium Glutamate than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Monosodium Glutamate products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caramel Coloring | 22 | 16.2% | 5.7% |
| Yellow 5 | 11 | 8.1% | 4.8% |
| Yellow 6 | 8 | 5.9% | 3.4% |
| Polysorbate 60 | 6 | 4.4% | 1.4% |
| Red 40 | 5 | 3.7% | 5.4% |
Co-occurrence describes what manufacturers formulate together. It is not a claim that these additives interact, and it carries no regulatory meaning. Counted over products with parsed ingredient lists; Open Food Facts, 2026-09-01.
Function
FLAVOR ENHANCER, NUTRIENT SUPPLEMENT, PH CONTROL AGENT, STABILIZER OR THICKENER
How do the sampled products compare?
Each point is one of the 16 sampled products listed below: its overall safety score against how many separately flagged ingredients its label carries. Bubble size is the number of ingredient rows the label actually resolved to.
Safety score vs. flagged-ingredient count for products containing Monosodium Glutamate
Products Containing Monosodium Glutamate
High-volume slice (16 of 136) for products naming Monosodium Glutamate:
Monosodium Glutamate vs other top-decile catalog footprints
Top-decile company for Monosodium Glutamate: 136 listings averaging 91/100. Catalog-mass neighbours in view: Burgundy Wine; Organic Coconutmilk; Emulsifier Blend.
Similar product count
Nearest other ingredients by Open Food Facts product count (floored at ≥50).
Similar mean product score
Score-axis peers only, mean screening score among ingredients with ≥50 scored products, not a second count list.
Using the Monosodium Glutamate evidence
136 product rows plus any FDA/CSPI fields on Monosodium Glutamate are the evidence base — drill into the listings that matter for your decision.
- Review the sampled product records that list Monosodium Glutamate to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. See listed products
- Compare Monosodium Glutamate with a peer such as “Burgundy Wine” on source-backed rating, FDA status, and product footprint. Browse ingredient records
- Read how PlainFoodSafe joins source records before treating a screening label as a personal food or health conclusion. See source joins
This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Monosodium Glutamate carry its own safety label in this catalog? ▼
This is a mixed neighborhood: some linked products carry a separate flag while others do not. Monosodium Glutamate itself carries and FDA SAFFA status "GRAS" where the source record supplies them. Compare like-for-like products before treating the average screening score as an ingredient verdict.
Which product shelves show up most often with Monosodium Glutamate? ▼
Monosodium Glutamate ranks in the top decile by product count (#2,516 of 247,206), appearing in 136 indexed products led by Condiments. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
What does Monosodium Glutamate do in food? ▼
Monosodium Glutamate is recorded as a flavor enhancer, nutrient supplement, ph control agent, stabilizer or thickener in source technical-effect fields.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Monosodium Glutamate). Safety ratings: CSPI Chemical Cuisine; product presence: Open Food Facts via PlainFoodSafe (September 2026). Figures are computed from those sources, no editor-typed counts. Methodology · State regulations.