Malaysian instant noodle maker conducting tests after carcinogenic substances found in Taiwan batch
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A spokesman for “Ah Lai White Curry Noodles” said they had sent samples to be tested by a lab to check for carcinogens.
PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO
BUTTERWORTH - A Malaysian instant noodle manufacturer in Penang is conducting its own tests to check its products after claims that a batch contained carcinogenic substances.
A spokesman for “Ah Lai White Curry Noodles” said they had sent samples to be tested by a lab to check for carcinogens based on claims made by the Taipei Department of Health in Taiwan.
“We have sent our samples to a lab and are awaiting the results,” the spokesman told Malaysia’s The Star on Tuesday.
“Prior to this, we have never had a problem nor has anyone made such claims against us since we started out in 2014. They (Taipei’s Department of Health) have not shown us their results or the samples they used, but we do not think they used our instant noodles.
“This is because when we asked them what samples were used, the expiry date of the noodles did not tally with the ones we sent to Taiwan (in 2022).”
The spokesman said the business, based in Bukit Mertajam on Malaysia’s mainland, began in 2014 and has sold all sorts of noodles including bee hoon and prawn noodles, both locally and internationally to countries like Indonesia and Japan.
Checks showed that Ah Lai White Curry Noodles have been sold by some retailers in Singapore, including the FairPrice supermarkets, although it was listed as “out of stock”.
The Singapore Food Agency and FairPrice have been approached for comment.
On Monday, Taiwanese media reported that two types of instant noodles made by two South-east Asian brands were found to contain a carcinogenic substance.
Taipei’s Department of Health released the results of the city’s 2023 inspection of instant noodles available in Taipei, stating that it found that a batch of “Ah Lai White Curry Noodles” from Malaysia and a batch of “Indomie: Special Chicken Flavour” noodles from Indonesia both contained ethylene oxide, a chemical compound associated with lymphoma and leukaemia.
The department said testing revealed that ethylene oxide was detected in both the noodles and flavour packet of the Malaysian product, but in only the flavour packet of the Indonesian product.
The unspecified retailer from which the samples were collected has been asked to pull the two products off its shelves, and the products’ importers will be fined between NT$60,000 (S$2,600) and NT$200 million, said the department. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
