“umami” describes a taste, but the concern is with the chemical properties and effects of MSG on humans, which others have cited as harmful.
“...the term umami was recognized as the scientific term to describe the taste of glutamates and nucleotides at the first Umami International Symposium in Hawaii.[7] Umami represents the taste of the amino acid L-glutamate and 5’-ribonucleotides such as guanosine monophosphate (GMP) and inosine monophosphate (IMP).[8]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami
From the referenced article
http://intl.jacn.org/content/19/4/434.short
Results: In human milk glutamic acid plus glutamine and taurine were the prevalent amino acids, accounting for around 50% total FAA. In the analysed formulas the total FAA fraction was 10% or even less than in human milk, mostly represented by taurine, while methionine was high in soy formula. The sum of glutamic acid and glutamine in all the formulas was much lower than in human milk.
Conclusions: Breastfed infants are supplied with FAA, mainly glutamic acid and glutamine, compared to formula-fed counterparts. The different FAA intake might be the origin of some functional differences at the enteral level between breast- and formula-fed infants.