Is there Monosodium Glutamate in your MRE's?

[Mike-Mat]

Hi Guys,

Looking for compact food for a hiking trip and MRE's seem to be the answer. The problem is, I'm allergic to Monosodium Glutamate or MSG. It's that stuff they add as a flavor enhancer to flavored chips, sausage, soups, gravy and salad dressing. I tried to search the mfg'ers web sites, but only a few of them actually put up nutritional info or contents.

Can you guys look at some of your MRE's and tell me....
1 - which meal it is
2 - does it have Monosodium Glutamate

I was at the APack site (www.readymeal.com) and they have a a great listing of their contents. No MSG in their stuff. But I'm curious about the real military MRE's (Sopack and others).

Thanks for your help,

Mike

[kman]

Hi Mike - welcome to the forums!

From what I've seen, the parts and pieces in the aPacks (and most of the other official civilian MREs) are the exact same parts as you'd find in a military MRE. The aPacks *might* contain a different brand of cheese spread or peanut butter, but that's about the only difference I've seen.

As for the ingredients, here are a couple of resources you can check. These two web sites carry a bunch of different MRE parts and pieces and also include the list of ingredients from each box. I checked a couple of entrees and neither one had any MSG in it - but you'll probably want to do a more thorough search.

Long Life Food
http://www7.mailordercentral.com/longli ... ?dept=1025

and

Emergency Essentials/BePrepared.com
http://beprepared.com/quickshoplist.asp ... e_E_MRE%20

[Mike-Mat]

Well I checked with several manufacturers and of the one's that replied, I have learned that there is NOT Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) in MRE's. After reading as many ingredients lists as I could find, I've discovered that these are made with better stuff than you can buy in the grocery store. Campbell's soup is poison compared to this stuff.

It seems that even though the people who produce MSG don't think it's harmful, the people who make emergency meals consider MSG enough of a problem to the population, to exclude it from their contents.

I bought 2 military MRE's from ebay (just because I wanted to try the real military thing). I also bought a case of meals from APack (www.readymeal.com) for my backpacking trip.

Mike Mattera

[kman]

You know, Mike, now that you mention it, it makes a kind of sense that the military MREs/emergency food wouldn't contain MSG - I wonder if they left that out on purpose to avoid problems with soldiers who were allergic to it?

Then again, if they were so concerned about allergies, you would think they'd also put warnings on the items that contain peanuts.

[Richard w.]

What about peanut allergies?

With so many people being diagnosed with it now, I wonder if its a disqualifying factor for enlistment. Anyone know?

I can't imagine the Army ever going peanut-safe.

[MCIera]

Don't know if a peanut allergy would be an issue, but it does appear that the raisin-nut mixture is less prevalent in the current menus, though peanut butter is a regular item as a spread.

Also don't know if more people have allergies to nuts rather than peanuts (which are a legume rather than a nut.)

The dry roasted peanuts that were once in some of the MREs would have had MSG.

What about peanut allergies?

With so many people being diagnosed with it now, I wonder if its a disqualifying factor for enlistment. Anyone know?

I can't imagine the Army ever going peanut-safe.

[MCIera]

Mreheater72 posted some images of very early MRE entrees in the viewtopic.php?t=1000 thread and it looks like a number of those entrees did contain MSG, but none of them are from current packing contractors.

[Mike-Mat]

Of the companies that responded to my inquires, NONE of them contain Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). Of the 2 Military MRE's I bought, made by Wollneck (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) neither contained MSG.

We my wife and I ate the Military MRE's last night (Beef Stew and Beef Steak w/ mushrooms) and really enjoyed them. They were VERY good. I was actually surprised how much my wife raved about how good they were. So I think they'll be more MRE's in my pantry from now on. They will certainly make camping easier.

So as long as this thread is about MSG, I'll tell you what I know about things that usually contain MSG.
Most Sausage: This includes Bologna, and Italian salami (most, but not all).
Most Salad Dressings: The Paul Newman line done NOT contain any MSG. Almost all Ranch dressings do.
Any "Flavored" Chips: Ranch Dorito's, BBQ Chips. If it has a powdered, flavored dust on it, It probably has MSG.
Soups and Soup Bases: All Campbells (excpept for the Healthy Choice). That little packet in your Ramen Noodles.
Gravy and Gravy Bases: Made of almost the same thing as soup base. It's generally loaded with MSG.
Breaded Fried Chicken: I know what's in the Colonel's Secret Ingredients! Most breaded chicken will have it, but not all.
Many of your seasoning salts for burgers and such. Lawerys Season salt does NOT have it.

Surprisingly most Chinese food does not have MSG any more (except the gravy's). But If your alergic you should always ask.

Mike Mattera

[MCIera]

Of the companies that responded to my inquires, NONE of them contain Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). Of the 2 Military MRE's I bought, made by Wollneck (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) neither contained MSG.

Yeah, sorry, I guess I wasn't real clear in my posting. None of the vendors that had used MSG in earlier entree items are current contractors. None of the current contractors and most of the companies that are making retort entree items for the consumer market do not use MSG in their products.

Surprisingly most Chinese food does not have MSG any more (except the gravy's). But If your alergic you should always ask.

Mike Mattera

Some Chinese restaurants have never used MSG in the foods that they prepare and many Chinese restaurants these days do omit the MSG. Of the Chinese restaurants that do use MSG, they will usually omit it upon request when you order your food. If you're not sure, just ask them if they use MSG in any of their dishes and you can ask them to leave it out if you desire one of those items.

[cavguy]

Speaking of MSG, I was just checking out a UGR Tray - Corned Beef Hash - production of 2007 made by the Wornick Co. Sure enough has Monosodium Glutamate listed as an ingredient..... First time I have seen MSG in a MRE.