What is the ruling on using Chinese salt (Ajinomoto) in cooking after the spread of rumors that it is extracted from pork, which led to its prohibition by mosque imams?

A definitive ruling on the prohibition or permissibility of an unknown substance cannot be made. The final word on it belongs to those scholars who are aware of its true nature.

If it is known that salt or any other substance has been mixed with an impure substance (najis) or that a forbidden material, such as pork, was used in its manufacturing, then its use is impermissible.

However, if the impure substance undergoes a complete transformation into a fundamentally different reality from its original impure state, then it becomes permissible for use according to most scholars, a view affirmed by Ibn Taymiyyah.