So I go to the 99Ranch Market to get some provisions for my Asian cooking cupboard and spy this cheap can of Chicken powder from China.

I read the front label. Good news. A way to get away from using MSG. Use this instead.

Then I read the ingredients! Essentially this is a can of MSG and salt with some chicken flavor. Agh!

Moral: read your labels!



  1. Edward says:

    Get Marigold’s Stock instead. MSG free bouillin

    http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/detail/579545b.jpg

  2. Ryan Alcott says:

    That is really messed up man. Thanks for the info Dvorak!

    +Ryan

  3. I have to say, Ranch 99 is great. I never saw such a thing until I moved out to San Francisco from Chicago… though that first time was a loooong shopping experience for the midwesterner.

    Nice advertising by Totole there, maybe you should submit a nicely worded compliment to their advertising department: http://www.totole.com.cn/totole_en/

    Or the manager: http://www.totole.com.cn/totole_en/files/general_manager_mail_box/general_manager_mail_box.asp

    But make sure you checkbox ‘lady’ or ‘man’ accordingly???

  4. GregAllen says:

    Am I the only non-Asian left who actually LIKES MSG? MSG is great!

    I have so many friends who claim some dire terrible thing about MSG but I think this is mostly urban myth. I think it has something to do with the wierd name.

    I used to believe the scare stories (sort of) until I moved to Asia where nearly everybody eats it without a second thought.

    A couple billions asians eat something like a POUND each of this stuff per year. They don’t seem to have any health problems. When I noticed that, I just quit worrying about it for myself.

    My wife was CONVINCED that she gets headaches from MSG because she once got one in a Chinese restaurant when she was a teen.

    Since I’ve know her, she has eaten HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of dishes with MSG in them without a single headache. (we lived in Asia) But she still gets crankly when I say that I think the MSG scare is urban myth. Afterall, it happened to her once!

    So, as for me, pour it on. It makes all kinds of dishes taste much better.

  5. Well its actually a replacement of the old can of msg..LOL
    have to love the necleotide seasoning

  6. R Taylor says:

    I know it’s a bother, but when I boil chicken I strain the stock and skim the fat. You can then use some old fashion ice trays to freeze it, and store it in the freezer in gallon zip bags whem frozen. You just take out a few stock cubes as needed. You can’t beat home made stock. I usally cook it with some root vegetables. You can also control the sodium. If you cook jewish meals the chicken fat freezes well also. I love chicken salad on rye, and got tired dumping that good stock.

  7. Peter says:

    MSG is okay for most people to consume — only “side effect” of MSG is usually making you hungery even after you are full, and being left rather thirsty.

    However, to people who are actually sensitive to the stuff, stomach cramping (instead of the “still hungry” sensation) could occur. My cousin’s senstive to the stuff — even when he doesn’t know there’s MSG in the food, he’ll get a stomachache afterwards.

  8. Pat says:

    Further down on the label…

    What the heck is Nucleotide Seasoning ???

    Do I want to know?

  9. MEH says:

    I can’t believe you people. … Don’t you trust stuff that comes from PRC. ? [LoL] …

    Depending on the consumer of msg-driven Chinese food, they should be losing a lot of the hair and their sex drive should dimmish by 50%
    once they hit the 40 range.

    How do I know that? … Lets say “I used to hang w/ some traditional Chinese medicine doctors and I learned a lot why the human body goes to hell. … I also have seen too many ppl who are suffering when they hit their 40’s ..”

    Take as much as you want. .. Once you turn 50+ .. Tell me how do your body feel? .. The value of my health care stocks will be increasing soon. …

  10. site admin says:

    I saw that weird ingredient too…I’ll find out what it is.

  11. Steve says:

    Just got off a flight from L.A., where instead of soda pop I ordered Mr. & Mrs. T’s Bloody Mary mix. Just looking at the label I saw four ingredients I didn’t recognize: Hydrolyzed Corn Protein, Autolyzed Yeast, Disodium Inosinate, and Disodium Guanyrate. (I wrote these down to look them up online.)

    This is in addition to the infamous High Fructose Corn Syrup, as well as 2080 milligrams (82% RDA) of sodium.

    Needless to say, I didn’t finish my drink.

  12. Gabe says:

    What were young going to cook with it anyway?

  13. Jim John says:

    MEH,
    Let me tell you: MSG exists naturally in almost all the foods items.
    If you grew up breast-fed, there should about 20mg MSG/100g of your mother’s milk. If you eat like an ordinary human being, the natural natural MSG you will digest is: egg, beef, chicken: 20-100mg/100g, potato, corn, mushroom, tomato, peas, grape… 100-300 mg/100g, the highest level in cheese, such as Parmesan and Roquefort cheese: over 1200mg/100g.
    MSG has been consumed by the whole world for nearly 100 years and is going to be continuously consumed world wide. Actually the FDA rules out that MSG in diet is safe. If you want to go along with MSG, I tell ya you will starve to death, because one:MSG is naturally everywhere; two: additional MSG is widely used in all the resturants and manufactured foods, no matter what they claim it is MSG free. Why? Simply because most of the ingredients are made by several layers of suppliers. Even you can make sure the ingredient you use is MSG free, how can you know the components they used to make this ingredient is MSG free, and so on…
    As a matter of fact, most of the artificial colorants and man-made perservatives in soft drinks ,chips and candies are harmful chemical. But human body can detoxify them if in extremely low dose. Glutamatic acid is one of the 20 amino acids that build the protein for all the creatures. I do not believe it is harmful if you consume MSG unless as amount of sugar. Over-dosing anything is damaging, excessive water intake will poison and kill you.
    If you do not believe it, it is fine. Being self-righteous is an easy thing to do, as well as swallowing those junk foods to make one fat and stupid.

  14. Mike says:

    Welcome to the world of Processed Food. Don’t worry about MSG, check out the obscene levels of Salt, High Fructose Corn Syrup and preservatives in most packaged products. Big Business – stretching the world’s food supply for shareholder value. In other news, Republican congressmen introduced legislation to ‘reform’ our wasteful food labeling laws :-\.

  15. Jim John says:

    MEH,
    You’d better shut up. 80% products exported to US from China are made by American companies with production facilities there.
    Nestle acquired Totole’s 80% share back 6 years ago(not sure if it buys the rest now). So basically it is a Nestle company. Feel good being self-righteous? You gotta have a better attitude towards to the world, which is changing quickly. Manufacturing junk food is NOT your mistake. Enjoying them like hell then being fat and stupid IS.


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