Efficacy of Monosodium Glutamate in Sodium Reduction and Impact on Sensory Profile of Traditional Indian Dishes

Abstract

Sodium chloride is one of the most commonly used food additive, because it is low cost and has the ability to increase one likes of foods via bringing about modification in flavor and other functional parameters in a food. It is indispensable in food processing and is normally added to achieve technological properties. The present study aimed to formulate and evaluate sensory profile of low sodium traditional Indian dishes incorporating Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). A total of 12 dishes categorized as flat breads, split legumes based dishes (Sambar and Dhals), sauteed vegetables and gravies were prepared and evaluated for sensory acceptability with 10 trained panel members. All the dishes were also analyzed for sodium content in both control (without MSG and only with salt) and experimental products (salt partially substituted with MSG). The sensory data of rice based flat bread showed that substitution of MSG resulted in a superior taste in contrast to the control sample. The compiled scores for mixed vegetable sambar for the quality of taste indicated low initial scores for product without MSG (7.6±2.36), whereas after substituting MSG, a sharp increase in the score was noticed (11.3±2.54). The amount of sodium contributed by MSG was in the range of 6.15-14.7 mg/100g of the product which is proportionately lower than the amount contributed by table salt. The overall sodium reduction for the developed products was in the range of 30.6% - 43.3%. The results clearly demonstrated that MSG could be considered as a better choice of salt substitute for replacing certain amount of sodium content in the products and a better sensory profile.

Keywords

Flavor enhancer; Low sodium; MSG, Salt substitute; Traditional dishes