M'sian instant noodle manufacturer conducting own tests after Taiwan says carcinogenic substances found in one batch

BUTTERWORTH: An instant noodle manufacturer here 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" here 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.

ALSO READ: Taiwan finds carcinogenic substance in two instant noodles from Malaysia, Indonesia

"We have sent our samples to a lab and are awaiting the results.

"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 last year (2022)," the spokesman said when contacted Tuesday (April 25).

The spokesman said the Bukit Mertajam-based business began in 2014 and has sold all sorts of noodles including bee hoon, koey teow and prawn noodles locally and internationally including to neighbouring countries like Indonesia and as far away as Japan.

On Monday (April 24), it was reported that two types of instant noodles made by 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 had been asked to pull the two products off its shelves, and the products' importers will be fined between NT$60,000 (RM8,685) and NT$200mil (RM28.95mil), the department said.