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We can enjoy various tastes in our meals and beverages. Sweet, bitter, salty and sour are just some of the tastes most familiar to our taste buds. However, there is one taste that cannot be simply described, as is the case with sweetness or sourness. We often define this quality as being savory. Oftentimes, we cannot clearly define what this taste is. Nevertheless, food is never complete and may be less enjoyable without this particular taste.

In 1908, Tokyo University professor Kikunae Ikeda conducted research into this savory quality, which is called umami, deeming it an element that complements the four existing tastes. The word itself is derived from the Japanese word umai, which means savory, delicious or brothy. According to Ikeda, the umami taste is different from the four previously identified tastes.

From his research using seaweed broth, Ikeda found that the source of the umami taste is glutamate. There are two types of glutamate, namely bound glutamate with no taste and free glutamate, which gives the umami taste that enriches meals.

Free glutamate is highly prevalent in living creatures, including humans. Every day, one human body produces 41 grams of free glutamate. A person weighing 60 kilograms contains 1,400 grams of bound and free glutamates.

Indonesian Nutritionists and Food Expertise Association (Pergizi Pangan) chair Hardinsyah wrote in his “Latest Study on MSG” that human beings are habituated to glutamate since infancy as breast milk contains free glutamate. Inside the body, free glutamate is found in highest quantities in the brain and muscles.

Glutamate is found in small amounts in the liver, kidneys and blood. Glutamate’s function is to activate the neurotransmitters in the brain and help the body’s metabolism in producing energy and amino acids.

Monosodium Glutamate

The umami taste can be easily found in everyday foods, including tempeh, tofu, shrimp paste, fish, meat, milk and other ingredients containing glutamate, such as seasoning powders containing monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Umami has a unique taste and its own taste receptor. It cannot be formed by combining other tastes. Umami can potentially decrease the use of salt in food products, decrease fat and control the sense of satiety.

Ikeda was sure the nutrition of the food consumed by Japanese people could be improved through umami and he realized his need to spread this in the form of household products. He then approached Saburosuke Suzuki, who was responsible for iodine production, with the idea to establish a business together to commercialize his idea. This idea was then developed into AJI-NO-MOTO®.

In 1909, one year after he secured the product patent, AJI-NO-MOTO® was sold as a umami seasoning for the first time in the world. AJI-NO-MOTO® as a source of the umami taste contains 78 percent glutamate, 12 percent sodium and 10 percent water.

Another potential application of glutamate to combine MSG and salt (sodium chloride) and thus decrease the total amount of sodium needed in food to produce a delicious taste, especially when compared with using just salt. This is because the amount of sodium in 1 gram of MSG is less than that in 1 gram of salt. Therefore, in the same amounts, sodium in salt presents a higher health risk for people with high blood pressure.

Made from natural ingredients, AJI-NO-MOTO®, which is 78 percent glutamate, is safe to consume. Health Ministerial Regulation No. 33/2012 on Food Additives allows MSG to be used as a food additive with a maximum usage limit “as needed”.

The Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), a special joint committee between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), evaluated the safety of glutamate in 1970, 1973 and 1987. Through these three evaluations, the JECFA declared MSG to be very safe, with its “acceptable daily intake (ADI) not specified”.

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