{"id":1668,"date":"2021-07-06T18:14:06","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T18:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/?p=1668"},"modified":"2021-07-07T03:39:52","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T03:39:52","slug":"the-art-of-lying-about-the-safety-of-msg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/2021\/07\/06\/the-art-of-lying-about-the-safety-of-msg\/","title":{"rendered":"The art of lying about the safety of MSG"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Straight from the horse\u2019s mouth: How to tell your story, market your idea and sell your product without mentioning that its use could be lethal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nobody does it better than Ajinomoto and their team of public relations specialists.<strong> <\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;Since 1957, when they changed the way they manufactured monosodium glutamate (a.k.a. MSG), and reports of reactions to MSG began to circulate, they\u2019ve waged one hell of an effective marketing campaign aimed at convincing consumers (and anyone who might influence consumers) that MSG is harmless. And their success is evidenced by the facts that researchers in the United States rarely study the effects of MSG toxicity and medical journals don\u2019t often publish studies that even suggest MSG might be toxic. Mainstream media dutifully carry Ajinomoto\u2019s message while physicians don\u2019t diagnose for MSG-sensitivity, and the FDA gives false testimony to the safety of MSG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, Jeryl Brunner writing in Forbes, interviewed one of Ajinomoto\u2019s own, who showed us how it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Building Tia Rains\u2019 expert\/celebrity status<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brunner\u2019s interview starts with Jeryl Brunner explaining that Tia Rains, an Ajinomoto executive, is \u201ccrusading to change the perception of monosodium glutamate.\u201d Following are the feel-good words you\u2019re supposed to associate with Tia Rains (without realizing that you\u2019re being brainwashed).&nbsp; They\u2019re used interchangeably by Rains and Brunner to build Rains\u2019 expert\/celebrity image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Nutrition (nutritionist)<\/li><li>Scientist<\/li><li>Nutritional scientist<\/li><li>Her true calling<\/li><li>Mastering the art<\/li><li>Devoted<\/li><li>Educating<\/li><li>Optimize<\/li><li>Understand<\/li><li>Guru<\/li><li>Inspired<\/li><li>Swimmer (a sports figure)<\/li><li>PhD<\/li><li>Passion<\/li><li>Research<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Then there are statements about Tia Rains\u2019 \u201ccrusade\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Her specialty is <strong>debunking misperceptions<\/strong> of maligned foods.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>She\u2019s focused on&nbsp;translating nutrition science&nbsp;into application&nbsp;<strong>to advance public health<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>She\u2019s dedicated to mapping out a communication approach that <strong>resonates<\/strong> with her audience.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The headline actually reads &#8212; \u201c<strong>For Decades, <\/strong>This<strong> Nutrition Scientist <\/strong>And <strong>Marketing Guru <\/strong>Has<strong> Inspired Millions <\/strong>To Change Misperceptions<strong>.\u201d&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brunner goes on to say,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<strong>Nutrition scientist<\/strong>&nbsp;Tia Rains&nbsp;is <strong>devoted<\/strong> to <strong>educating&nbsp;people<\/strong> about&nbsp;the food they eat.&nbsp;Her <strong>passion<\/strong> for nutrition developed from being a child <strong>competitive swimmer<\/strong>. Rains knew that nutrition could <strong>optimize<\/strong> her performance and she wanted to <strong>understand<\/strong> how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor two decades Rains has spent most of her professional career <strong>mastering the art of nutrition communications.<\/strong> A <strong>PhD<\/strong> in <strong>nutritional sciences<\/strong>, her specialty is debunking misperceptions of maligned foods.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRains started at Kraft Foods where she found <strong>her true calling<\/strong> at the nexus of science and application. Then she lead <strong>nutrition research<\/strong> at a contract <strong>research<\/strong> organization. From there she moved to the Egg Nutrition Center where she led a <strong>successful<\/strong> effort against the public vilification of eggs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHer latest&nbsp;endeavor&nbsp;is&nbsp;<strong>crusading<\/strong>&nbsp;to&nbsp;change the&nbsp;perception of&nbsp;monosodium glutamate, better known as \u2018MSG.\u2019&nbsp;As Vice President of Customer Engagement and Strategic Development at Ajinomoto Health &amp; Nutrition North America, Rains is a <strong>health and nutrition advocate<\/strong> within the food and nutrition industry. She is <strong>focused on&nbsp;translating nutrition science&nbsp;into application&nbsp;to advance public health.\u201d&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how Rains would inspire you to change your opinion on MSG being toxic, using \u201cart and science.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ordinarily, there would be five parts to the \u201cart and science\u201d of generating propaganda:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. A positive image of the person delivering the message (an expert or a celebrity)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. A recitation of the good things about the product,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3. A recitation of how the product (MSG) has been maligned,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4. A recitation of what\u2019s bad about those who contradict claims that the product is worth buying, and,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5. A recitation of alleged \u201cfacts\u201d \u2013 lies that people will be told about MSG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Brunner\u2019s article, however, the focus is on the expertise of the person making the presentation as she exposes the root of all this \u201cmisinformation\u201d (which, Rains says, is a 1968 article in the <em>New England Journal of Medicine<\/em>).&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">To accomplish that, Rains and Brunner use words that will resonate with her audience as she: &nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Builds sympathy for poor maligned MSG:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cMSG is one of the most baselessly demonized ingredients in American history.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cWe\u2019re attempting to overturn a terrible and long history of xenophobia and misinformation.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cMSG became an easy&nbsp;target and&nbsp;the stigma took hold.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Praises the success of her efforts to convince people that MSG is \u201csafe\u201d<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cTo date,&nbsp;her efforts have contributed to&nbsp;more than&nbsp;twelve million Americans becoming more positive toward&nbsp;the ingredient.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reinforces the positive image that Rains has built for herself:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cI hope we can get to a place where&nbsp;we\u2019re leaning more on&nbsp;science than personal feeling, or even fear.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cEvery time&nbsp;I present facts and get someone to&nbsp;shift&nbsp;their&nbsp;perception, I\u2019m reminded&nbsp;of&nbsp;why I do what I do.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cAs a scientist, I\u2019m an analytical thinker by training and recognize the importance of research and data. I am able to make science accessible and understandable for the average consumer. But I also think critically about the variety of factors that inform a perception and then see how we can work with researchers and experts to examine why they persist. Credible data is important when creating successful marketing campaigns.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Urges followers to deliver a balance of logic and emotion<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Be logical.&nbsp; Logic gives people confidence in the message.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Play to the audience\u2019s emotions.&nbsp; Emotion allows people to take ownership of Rains\u2019 campaign and work to have others work with her to change their negative opinions about MSG.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Speaks of the benefits of using MSG<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It\u2019s critical for people to taste what MSG does to food and truly experience it.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>MSG can be used as a replacement for table salt.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Recites some of the half-truths told by the glutamate industry<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cDecades of research validates MSG\u2019s safety.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>(NOTE: the research <\/em><em>said by Rains to validate MSG\u2019s safety is badly flawed, in some cases using placebos made of excitotoxic amino acids that cause reactions identical to those caused by MSG<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cPublic health organizations around the world stand by its use in the food supply.\u201d\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>(NOTE: The organizations referred to by Rains did no research of their own on the safety of MSG (neither library nor laboratory research), but were given material to review by Ajinomoto and Ajinomoto\u2019s agents, which includes the FDA<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>For more information see: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.truthinlabeling.org\/assets\/industrys_fda_final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.truthinlabeling.org\/assets\/industrys_fda_final.pdf<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For obvious reasons, neither Brunner nor Rains mentions brainwashing which, we have observed, is her basic modus operandi.&nbsp; Brainwashing can be accomplished in many different ways. Here it\u2019s done by pairing the three letters MSG with feel-good words.&nbsp; Just as food was paired with ringing a bell for Pavlov\u2019s dogs to condition them to salivate when a bell was rung, pairing \u201cMSG\u201d with happy, soothing words will make people feel good every time they think \u201cMSG.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What more could a propaganda artist ask for than a couple of pages of subtle brainwashing displayed on the pages of Forbes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><em>If you have questions or comments, we\u2019d love to hear from you.&nbsp; And if you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, we\u2019ll put them up on&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/Truth-in-Labeling-Campaign-114093959577\/\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>.&nbsp; You can also reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/truthlabeling\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter&nbsp;<\/a>@truthlabeling<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Straight from the horse\u2019s mouth: How to tell your story, market your idea and sell your product without mentioning that its use could be lethal Nobody does it better than Ajinomoto and their team of public relations specialists. &nbsp;&nbsp;Since 1957, when they changed the way they manufactured monosodium glutamate (a.k.a. MSG), and reports of reactions &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/2021\/07\/06\/the-art-of-lying-about-the-safety-of-msg\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The art of lying about the safety of MSG&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8,66,326,325,4,324],"class_list":["post-1668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ajinomoto","tag-brainwashing","tag-forbes","tag-monosodium-glutamate","tag-msg","tag-tia-rains"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1668"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1677,"href":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1668\/revisions\/1677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}