S.Korean ramen pulled off shelves over cancer fear

Supermarket chains across Vietnam have pulled the South Korean instant noodle brand Nongshim off shelves after the latter’s authorities announced that the product contains a cancer-causing substance.

The ramen manufacturer, Nongshim, was ordered by health authorities to recall six of its instant noodle brands as small amounts of a cancer-causing substance have been detected in them, according to a Saturday report on the Korea Times news website.

The ramen was made with katsuobushi, or smoke-dried bonito, which contains benzopyrene, which has been designated a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, according to the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA).

Nongshim’s mild and spicy Neoguri ramen, Neoguri cup ramen in small and big bowls, Saeutang (shrimp soup) cup noodles and Saengsaeng udon contained contaminated katsuobushi produced by a called subcontractor Daewang, the Korea Times reported.

In June, the KFDA took administrative action against Daewang after detecting that the subcontractor had produced and supplied katsuobushi containing 10.6-55.6 parts per billion (ppb) of benzopyrene, more than the permissible level of less than 10 ppb, the Korean website said.

The authority also detected up to 4.7 ppb of benzopyrene in the above six noodle products, but it neither ordered the recall, nor made the information public, as it concluded the detected amounts were too small to do any harm.

Nongshim also discarded the ingredients in question and picked a different subcontractor at that time but didn’t voluntarily collect products that had already been distributed, according to the Korea Times.

Vietnam requests tests

Following the recall news in South Korea, supermarket systems in Vietnam announced that they have removed the Nongshim noodle from shelves and requested the distributors to conduct toxic tests on the products.

“We have asked the supplier to conduct all necessary tests on the products while waiting for the official conclusion from local authorities,” said Nguyen Phuong Thao, director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Maximark Cong Hoa.

The supermarket sourced the ramen from two companies based in the city, she said.
“We will return and stop selling the products if tests find they are indeed unsafe,” she added.

Big C and Lotte Mart meanwhile said they have returned all of the products to the distributors, and also requested the latter to conduct quality tests.

The supermarkets said the products had all of the necessary papers before being stocked at their facilities.

KFDA, Nongshim claim product is safe

Despite public concern about the safety of the noodles, the Korea Times cited a KFDA report saying that the 4.7 ppb of benzopyrene is a permissible level for smoke-dried fish.

“No country, including Korea, has separate criteria for the substance in products processed with such fish ingredients.

“Even if people eat the noodles with 4.7 ppb, they will take in 0.000005 micrograms of benzopyrene per day, while they usually consume 16,000 times more benzopyrene, or 0.08 micrograms, when eating cooked meat,” the KFDA said on its website.

Nongshim also said on its website that its products are exported to 80 countries and “not a single issue has been raised about safety related to benzopyrene.”