Chinese Restaurant Syndrome
do not use this inaccurate phrase. Although it appears in at least one dictionary (currently considering removing it), the usage can be traced to a 1968 letter in the New England Journal of Medicine claiming Chinese food, particularly its use of MSG, caused illness; it was later found to be a hoax. A 2019 review of scientific literature in Food Science and Food Safety concluded that claims linking MSG to an assortment of ailments were unsubstantiated. If you are writing about a food-borne illness, it is most useful to describe it precisely.
