Tasty waste: industrial fermentation and the creative destruction of MSG

Abstract

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) traveled to America in the Pacific theatre of World War II. The flavor-enhancing food additive was known in the U.S. beforehand, but it was the experience of Japanese military rationing that drove American military and food industry interests to truly adopt the technology and to invest in domestic production. In 1957, researchers in Japan discovered a method of producing MSG with unprecedented efficiency and profitability: industrial fermentation. Industrial fermentation refers to the large-scale production of commercially valuable substances by growing selected microbial cultures on cheaply available raw materials. This paper explores how MSG came to be harvested at scale from the metabolic excretions or wastes of bacteria fed on other agri-industrial waste products (e.g., sugar, soy, wheat). The $8.4 billion (USD) Ajinomoto Company, Inc., founder and top global manufacturer of MSG (in addition to other seasonings, processed foods, beverages, amino acids, pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals), has been fermenting glutamate from modified bacterial strains since roughly 1960. The profitability of the fermentation method provided the impetus for expanding the global MSG market in the postwar period, impacting the health and aesthetic value of foodways around the world.