I’m not familiar with your site but a true “survival food” that does not spoil or need refrigeration is Pemmican. Pemmican also provides complete nutrition all by itself- people don’t talk about it, but good, high quality meat has any vitamin or mineral that you can get from fruits or vegetables, even vitamin C. People have been documented to subsist healthily on nothing but Pemmican, during journeys or days with long work hours, for years at a time. Also, do not be scared of the saturated fat- it is not only harmless; it is the human body’s preferred source of energy, as nature intended. That’s why we store energy as fat in our own bodies. Humans were hunters before they were farmers, and health was much better in those days, as we can tell from the bones.

Here is a manual on how to make pemmican, the way that Native Americans traditionally made it for centuries: http://www.traditionaltx.us/images/PEMMICAN.pdf

Thanks and good luck.

Respectfully, if MSG is being concealed were not much of an issue, then companies would not conceal it. They do — think tobacco-logic. The sudden disappearance of those three letters and the sudden appearance of “autolyzed” and “hydrolyzed” should be telling, NOT indicate that a “sudden cure” has been found for this freshness issue. It’s still there. If it wasn’t bad for more than a few people, they would have no reason to replace or rename it at all. It’s more than just a marketing embarrassment.

If MSG did not serve a purpose, they wouldn’t buy it and put it in their product. If it wasn’t an important ingredient, they wouldn’t seek clones. This zealous desire to sell product combined with the FDA’s incompetence and indifference allows companies to promote the “safeness” or “naturalness” of MSG and its clones — with lost of money.

Free glutamic proteins do appear in small amounts in some natural things some people eat. But to assume MSG and the others are safe when used in these huge dietary “it’s-in-everything-you-buy-except-its-really-natural-albeit-chemically-manipulated” amounts, would be assuming a lot. To those who are sensitive to MSG, they already know what it will do. To those who are not sensitive, the effects of too much MSG will be discovered later, much like hearing damage to people who listen to loud music. Who cares — now?

Tobacco is natural. What is its safe amount?

Nevertheless, what is telling is visiting the web site of the biggest company whose livelihood depends upon the illusion of promoting health and freshness — whether real or not — Subway. This company spends millions on research, development and marketing. Their image is important. It’s all they have to market because the food is, well, just fast food.

Subway Sandwiches (Doctor’s Associates) are currently marketing their company as a more health-ready alternative to fast food in general. On the ingredients page of their site, there is a list of sensitive additives, along with checkmarks indicating whether they are in that particular item. There, Subway acknowledges that autolyzed and hydrolyzed proteins and MSG are kissing cousins, whether technically identical or not (some Subway items do contain MSG and clones). They know it and they admit it — as someday they will have to “talk the talk”; therefore, they are disclosing now! Virtually everyone else is concealing it and saying it’s not MSG.

Also, you seldom find MSG and its clones in good health food and naturalist stores. On the other hand, you find it in a large quantity of fast foods, snack foods, boxed fast foods and health supplements to make the consumer think they are eating something that tastes better than it does. A great deal of science goes into creating and packaging foods.

Which brings me to the second question relating to why it matters whether MSG is used or not. MSG is a free glutamic protein akin to its autolyzed and hydrolyzed protein relatives. Simply, free glutamic protein use in products causes an overly excited state in consumers’ nerve cells making things taste good. It works. One down-side of this is it damages or kills the cells leaving a flood of fluid in its wake causing health reactions. These effects have different impacts on different people.

Research has shown it causes brain damage in rats.

Mother Nature didn’t intend this. An unrelated but useful analogy would be how carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke when breathed attaches to the hemoglobin molecule rather than oxygen, thereby, starving the brain of oxygen - bad thing. But the nicotine imparts a positive impression to the brain?

Cigarettes cause lung and heart damage. MSG causes nerve health effects. It’s hard putting down that bag of Doritos. It’s hard putting down that cigarette. That’s why it matters. It’s what we find out later that matters.

I, and millions of others, will tell you MSG and its clones are not good for you. There are those who believe it is at least partially responsible for childhood and adult obesity, migraines, edema, depression, nerve damage, lack of concentration, glandular dysfunction, and so on. Please visit an MSG site for more information.

Thanks for pointing this out.

Wikipedia’s entry on MSG has this statement;

Monosodium glutamate is one of several forms of free glutamate used in foods. Free glutamate can also be present in a wide variety of other additives, including hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate, any one of which may appear as “spices” or “natural flavorings.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate

While it is clear the proteins you mention are flavor enhancers that contain free glutamate they are not specifically MSG.

That said I prefer as little additives as possible. I don’t believe flavor enhancers are being added for freshness or longer shelf life in freeze dried food, the 98% removal of water in the flash freeze drying process and nitrogen packing take care of that. So these flavor enhancers are being used to do just that enhance flavor.

So there is likely no impact on shelf life or freshness if they are removed.

These foods were primarily sold to the military before Oregon Freeze Dry Mountain House started marketing the camping pouches (as Mountain House Brand) and also expanded to the food supply business. The flavor enhancers were likely added to satisfy taste requirements of these customers.

However if there are enough people who want to have just as healthy, additive free foods in a one year survival food reserve, I am sure there is no technical reason they couldn’t market this as a product.

MSG is being hidden under even more benign names as well. You’ll just have to research the MSG sites.

Notice how monosodium glutamate has disappeared from your favorite products only to be replaced with these names instead? If it’s dried, freeze-dried, or just a boxed prepared meal, it likely has MSG (or autolyzed or hydrolyzed proteins). It tricks your brain into thinking it is fresh when it isn’t. If you’re sensitive to MSG and continue to have problems with these products, that is why.