Modified Starch - This is starch that has been treated, chemically, to make it more blendable, improve its texture, and to fix its acidity. Food manufacturers rely on it to bind and thicken puddings, pie fillings, gravies, sauces, and all kinds of instant products and mixes. Baby food manufacturers use it to keep their products from oozing liquid, and so do frozen food processors that find it keeps gravies and sauces creamy and smooth from freezer to oven to table. Monoglycerides - An additive derived from fats in which food processors use to stabilize sausages, lard, vegetable oils, margarines and shortenings. This is a flavor enhancer that comes from the sodium salt of glutamic acid.
Glutamic acid is an amino acid that is present in our bodies naturally.
The Japanese have been extracting it for over 2,000 years. The FDA has been testing it for years and continues to rate it GRAS, and in 1995, scientific advisors to the FDA agreed that it was safe for almost everyone. As a concession to those that are sensitive to MSG, the FDA requires that any product containing MSG, be so labeled. This is used as a stabilizer in pork products to minimize the amount of liquid that cooks out.