Everyone loves a secret. Some like to keep them all to themselves. Kids love to share them with their best friends.
Trade secrets are a very special type of secret that describe practices or processes of a company generally not known outside of the company. They are often products of internal research and development.
Moreover, to be legally considered a trade secret in the United States, a company must make a reasonable effort to conceal the information from the public, the secret must intrinsically have economic value, and the trade secret must contain information.
Trade secrets of the glutamate industry are unique in that they obscure the toxic nature of their products, concealed from public view by a well-coordinated effort that involves both government and private industries.
Glutamate industry fabrications spring from the basic falsehood that monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a harmless, or even beneficial, food additive. They go on to twist the facts of MSG’s chemical structure, lie about the permeability of the blood-brain barrier, fail to define terms and/or define terms to meet their needs, parade half-truths before the public (leaving out anything that might contradict their story), take materials out of context and convert them to their own advantage, cite studies that support their story while ignoring others, recite the history of production and use of MSG (leaving out significant aspects of that story), rig the research presented as evidence that MSG is harmless, and maintain a close working relationship with the FDA.
The Truth in Labeling Campaign has written volumes about the toxic effects of MSG and its free glutamic acid component. With our new blog, Saturday’s Secrets, we’re reducing years or research to simple sound bites, focusing on the multitude of secrets that the glutamate industry doesn’t want you to know.
We invite you to join us for the launch of Saturday’s Secrets on Nov. 20th. Stay tuned for details.