Dangerous Pesticides Causing Health Complications Found in Imported Mie Sedaap

By Quinny Tan  •  07 Oct 2022 in News

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What’s your favourite instant noodles brand? Personally I think the Shin Ramyun is superior, but we’re not talking about that today. If yours is Mie Sedaap, you might want to stay away from it for the time being.

Yesterday, news broke out that two products of Indonesian brand Mie Sedaap – Korean Spicy Soup and Korean Spicy Chicken instant noodles – are being recalled due to the presence of ethylene oxide, a pesticide.

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said that ethylene oxide was detected in the products during a survey of food items. After the same pesticide was found in Haagen-Dazs ice cream products in August, affected Haagen-Dazs products were subsequently recalled.

Ethylene oxide can cause vomiting or other gastrointestinal distress when consumed in a liquid form. When inhaled as a gas, it could lead to pulmonary edema and other pulmonary irritations.

According to a report from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, long-term exposure to ethylene oxide in humans can cause irritation of the eyes, skin, nose, throat and lungs, and damage to the brain and nervous system, and increases the risk of cancer.

SFA said it is testing other Mie Sedaap instant noodle products, and is working with the importers and Indonesian authorities to “investigate and rectify the cause of ethylene oxide contamination.”

But what does this mean for Malaysians? Well apparently, the Ministry of Health confirmed this morning that the contaminated noodles have been imported into Malaysia.

You might want to check your kitchen cabinets now, because the affected Mie Sedaap Korean Spicy Soup instant noodles have an expiry date of March 17, 2023.

But the Health DG Noor Hisham said the batches available here did not have the same expiry date as the ones recalled in Singapore.

MOH assures that it is continuing to monitor the market, and conduct hold, test and release procedures at all international entry points.

Just to be on the safe side of things, I’d say it’s a good idea to check the expiry dates on any instant noodles anyway.