A Note on Additives

The Traditional Firewood Range is Yu Ding Xing's mid-grade range of soy sauce, and do contain food additives, unlike their other offerings. The additives contained are disodium-guanylate, disodium inosinate, and the amino acid alanine. These additives are derived naturally from the fermentation of tapioca starch, and interact with the natural glutamates present in the soy sauce to create a flavor that is distinctly Taiwan. The soy sauce brewery indicated that they produce this range by popular request, as many Taiwanese prefer to have these additives in their sauces. The FDA generally regards them as safe and does not even require that they be listed. In other soy sauces, similar additives are listed as "natural flavorings" or "yeast extract." Though we are not required to declarer these additives, we opted to be 100% transparent as the purity and origins of the products we offer are a priority to us.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/an-msg-convert-visits-the-high-church-of-umami