A Survey of Awareness and Preference for MSG according to the Pursuit of Well-being in Diet

Abstract

This research was conducted to examine the awareness and preference levels related to MSG (monosodium glutamate) according to well-being dietary life pursuit attitude factors as well as to improve opportunities to meet value conscious consumption of well-being-oriented customers. According to well-being dietary life pursuit attitude factors, respondents were divided to three clusters, indifference type, well-being-oriented type, and active health action type. Sensory evaluations were carried out on soybean paste soup (Doenjang-guk) and seasoned spinach with different levels of MSG. In the results, 74.4% of all respondents preferred Doenjang soup with 2% MSG, 65.4% preferred seasoned spinach with the same ratio of MSG, and 35.9% preferred seasoned spinach with 0.5% MSG. Regarding the acceptance level of MSG, addition of MSG to improve taste was acceptable to the indifference type (cluster 1). On the contrary, active health action type did not prefer MSG, wanted natural seasonings despite high prices, and preferred to dine at restaurants that serve MSG-free foods. Based on this study, restaurant companies should segment their customers on the basis of MSG usage and establish their positioning strategies according to their concepts.