Nissin Noodle Products “No Added MSG” Claims Class Action

The use of free glutamates, such as MSG, is controversial. Some consumers will not eat any food that contains them. Nissin Foods (USA) Co., Inc. makes a number of noodle products, including Cup Noodles, Top Ramen, Hot & Spicy, and Chow Mein that are marked with the claim, “No Added MSG.” But the complaint alleges that this claim is false and that the products do contain MSG.

The class for this action is all persons who bought a No MSG product in the US during the applicable statutes of limitations. A New York Subclass has also been proposed for those who bought the products in New York.

The claim “No Added MSG,” the complaint alleges, leads consumers to think a product does not contain MSG or MSG-equivalent free glutamates. But the complaint alleges that this is not true.

Free glutamates—or ingredients that contain them—may be added to foods to produce an umami taste. Umami tastes make people salivate, which may make food taste better.

However, some believe that free glutamates have harmful effects, the complaint says, “such as headaches, increased blood pressure, obesity, and psychiatric illness.” Others have sensitivity or an allergy to foods that use free glutamates and have allergic reactions to it, such as difficulty breathing, chest pain, faster heart rates, or facial swelling.

MSG is an abbreviation of monosodium glutamate, the kind of free glutamate most often added to prepared foods. The complaint alleges that “the free glutamate in MSG is chemically indistinguishable from ‘free standing’ free glutamate or free glutamate contained in other glutamic acid salts. People ultimately metabolize these sources of free glutamate in the same way.”

The complaint quotes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as saying, “While technically MSG is only one of several forms of free glutamate used in foods, consumers frequently use the term MSG to mean all free glutamate. For this reason, FDA considers foods whose labels say ‘No MSG’ or ‘No Added MSG’ to be misleading if the food contains ingredients that are sources of free glutamates, such as hydrolyzed proteins.”

However, the complaint reproduces the ingredient panel from Nissin’s Chicken Top Ramen product. It shows, for example, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, which the complaint claims “is a substantial source of free glutamates including monosodium glutamate[,]” as well as Hydrolyzed Corn Protein, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, and Maltodextrin.

“Indeed,” the complaint alleges, “several of the ingredients found in [Nissin’s] No MSG Products are examples that the FDA provides on its website of ingredients that naturally contain MSG and thus cannot be included in foods labelled ‘No MSG’ or ‘No Added MSG.’”

These are not ingredients vitally necessary to ramen, the complaint alleges, but ingredients specifically intended to add an umami flavor.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Contains Substance It Claims Not to Contain, Deceptive Advertising, Deceptive Labels