Johnny’s Seasoning Salt is a product manufactured by Johnny’s Fine Foods, a Tacoma, Washington-based food purveyor founded in 1965. In addition to Seasoning Salt, Johnny’s Fine Foods offers salad dressings, sauces, soups, and a variety of seasonings for red meat, seafood and more. Johnny’s proudly proclaims that its products are gluten free and have no added MSG.

According to the official website, Johnny’s Seasoning Salt contains 0 calories, 0 g of fat, 320 g of sodium, and 0 g of carbohydrates and protein in one serving, or a 1/4 tsp. Johnny’s Seasoning Salt comes in a variety of sizes from 4.75 oz. to 2 lb.

Johnny’s Seasoning Salt contains salt, sugar, paprika, pepper, garlic, soy sauce powder, cellulose gel and citric acid. The seasoning salt with the yellow lid contains added soy and wheat – a concern for people with certain allergies. The seasoning can be used on any kind of food to enhance flavor. Some suggestions from Johnny’s include using the seasoning on steak, chicken, hamburgers, seafood, vegetables, cottage cheese and eggs.

MSG, known as monosodium glutamate, is a white, odorless compound added to foods and seasoning to enhance flavor and as a preservative. A March 5, 2008 article appearing in the New York Times reports that in the 1950’s, MSG was identified as a toxin and removed from commercial baby food. In the late 1960’s MSG was blamed for a variety of symptoms including chest pain, flushing, headaches, numbness and sweating, which lead to a scare now known as "Chinese restaurant syndrome," according to the National Institutes of Health. Many studies were conducted, which produced conflicting data with most finding no connection between MSG and reported symptoms. The NIH reports that some people may just be sensitive to food additives.

While Johnny’s boasts having no added MSG, the compound is not only found naturally in certain foods, but it is still used to make some of the most enjoyed foods and snacks found in American supermarkets including packaged onion soup, goldfish crackers and low-fat yogurt, according to the New York Times 2008 article.

In food, sodium enhances flavor, improves color and helps stabilize and bind ingredients. According to the American Heart Association, while sodium is an essential nutrient, you need very little in your diet to get the most benefits. Most foods have natural amounts of sodium, but up to 75 percent consumed by Americans come from processed foods with added amounts of the mineral. Too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure and an increased risk of developing heart disease and stroke.

A 1/4 tsp. of Johnny’s Seasoning Salt contains 13 percent of the recommended daily allowance of sodium. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute reports that Americans should eat less than 2,400 mg of sodium a day, an amount equivalent to 6 g or 1 tsp. of salt.