Wings Food, the producer of Indonesia’s other popular instant noodle brand Mie Sedaap (which literally translates to “deelicious noodles”), has denied that its products have been contaminated after Taiwan rejected a recent shipment.
Recently, out of Taiwan came the report that the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected several shipments of instant noodles from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan after they were found to contain “excessive levels of pesticide residues.” Among those red flagged by the FDA were 4,047.4 kilograms of Mie Sedaap cup noodles.
Back home, Wings Food has sought to allay the unsaavory concerns.
“Mie Sedaap products do not contain pesticides. The rejection of shipment in Taiwan had nothing to do with that. It was due to differences in regulatory standards enforced by the regulators there,” Katria Arintya Anindyantari, marketing manager for Wings Food’s noodle products, stated yesterday evening.
Katria insisted that Mie Sedaap products have passed domestic and international quality management standards, and that they are halal-certified in Muslim-majority Indonesia ,referring to the stringent quality control by the country’s ulema council.
“These show that Mie Sedaap was developed with high production standards and tight quality control … and that it’s safe for consumption by the general public,” she said.
Nonetheless, Taiwan’s FDA said customs officials would increase the percentage of Indonesian instant noodle shipments checked from 5-10 percent to 20 percent. The regulatory body did not say that the new policy would apply exclusively to Mie Sedaap products, meaning other Indonesian noodle brands may be under greater scrutiny as well.
