KUALA LUMPUR: The company which produces the "Ah Lai White Curry Noodles" has sent their noodles for testing following accusations that a batch of their products contained cancer-causing items.
A spokesperson for the company, responding to the allegations made by the Taipei Department of Health in its annual inspection of instant noodles available in the city, said the company had shipped a container of the noodles to Taiwan last year with a particular expiry date.
"However, the expiry date reported yesterday did not tally with the ones they sent out," the spokesperson told the New Straits Times.
The NST is awaiting an official statement from the company.
CNA in a report on Monday, had quoted Taipei's Department of Health as claiming that two types of instant noodles made by Southeast Asian brands have been found to contain a cancer-inducing substance.
The department in a statement, claimed 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 leukemia.
The department claimed 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 have been asked to pull the two products off their shelves, and the products' importers will be fined between NT$60,000 (RM8,600) and NT$200 million, the department said.
According to information on the website of the Toxic and Chemical Substances Bureau under the Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration, ethylene oxide is poisonous when consumed or inhaled.
Aside from leading to lymphoma and leukemia, ethylene oxide can also seriously irritate the skin and eyes of anyone who comes into contact with the substance and even trigger birth and hereditary defects.
Chen Yi-ting, who heads the Taipei Department of Health's Food and Drug Division, said the city's instant noodles inspection was conducted by randomly selecting 30 products from supermarkets, convenience stores, hypermarkets, traditional wet markets, Southeast Asian food shops and wholesale importers in the city.
Meanwhile, NST's checks with retailers in the Klang Valley showed that none of them carried the brand of noodles.
A spokesperson for the local hypermarket chain Mydin said that both instant noodles products were not sold on their shelves.
"We don't sell these brands of instant noodles," a Mydin spokesperson said when contacted.
A staff from Jaya Grocer who wanted to be known as Zayid said that the store does not carry the "Ah Lai Instant Noodles" brand.
A 99 Speedmart staff member also said that the store only sells Indomie Instant Special Fried Noodles and not the Indomie Special Chicken Flavour.
"We also don't carry any Ah Lai branded noodles."
The NST has reached out to the Health Ministry for comments on the matter.
Additional reporting by Asha Suraya, Aqilah Alias