Parle Monaco Cracker Sandwich Cheese

Lecithin is naturally available from soya bean (Plant source) and from egg yolk (Animal Source). 

A product marked as Vegetarian is likely to get its Lecithin from soya bean plant. It should be noted that Lecithin is produced from Soya bean oil, hence does not include Soy protein. As a result people with soya sensitivity may not get affected by it. 

Consume this product based on your sensitivity towards Soy and Lecithin.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of the common amino acid i.e. Glutamic acid, popular for its usage as flavouring agent in Asian Cooking. 

This glutamate salt is also found naturally in various foods such as tomatoes and cheese as well as ingredients such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolysed groundnut protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate. 

Some people are sensitive to MSG having adverse effects such as headache, depression, etc. on regular consumption of this salt. Indian law requires that foods containing Added MSG list it in the ingredient panel on the packaging with the warning that it should not be consumed by infants below 12 months. However, if ingredients that have naturally occurring MSG, are added to the product then the product may not specify in regards to its presence. 

Pregnant & Lactating women & Infants should avoid Products containing MSG .

Flavouring Substances are added to Food products either to regain the flavour it would have lost during processing e.g. juices or to add a new desired flavour e.g. in case of biscuits, vanilla flavour may be added to otherwise food product without any flavour.

Based on the resemblance of the flavouring substance to its natural occurrence, it is classified as natural, nature identical or artificial flavouring substance. Read this blog to find more about different flavouring substances.

Some Food Products mask the amount of Added Sugar by using multiple forms of sugar and avoid displaying Sugar as one of the first ingredient. All Ingredient list are in descending order by their weight, so the position of sugar and its aliases can give an indication of the amount of 'Added Sugar'.

Though the Nutrition Fact label on the food product gives you the Total Sugar, the regulation does not require the break up between natural and added sugar to be given. Thus, it is important to know the different sources of sugar that may be present in a food product to get an idea of added sugar. 

At the same time it is important to understand that the body does not distinguish between natural and added sugar, so take note of the Total Sugar in the Nutritional Fact label.

Read more about the many different sources of sugar which includes Dextrose, Invert Syrup, Maltodextrin, Honey...

Additives are added to the packaged foods for different reasons varying from increasing shelf life, to provide flavour and texture, increasing nutrition quality or required to manufacture some types of food. 

One of the ways to determine the degree of Processing is the number of additives you find in the ingredient list. The higher the number of additives greater is the degree of processing. Additives can be identified by looking for ingredients that begin with 'E' and have a number in them. 

It is generally recommended that food that is closer to nature is better hence it is better to choose food products with lesser number of additives.