TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - One of the instant noodles produced in Indonesia, Indomie, specifically the special chicken flavor, was recalled by the Taiwan authorities on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, for allegedly containing a cancer-inducing substance.

Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) Deputy Chairperson of Commission IX, Kurniasih Mufidayati, thus asked the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) to check all instant noodle products with the same variant as those withdrawn in Taiwan.

According to the House deputy chairperson, BPOM could confirm whether these products are also circulating in Indonesia or only for export.

“[BPOM] can immediately conduct mitigation. Moreover, there were previous cases that the Singapore and Hong Kong authorities withdrew instant noodles from Indonesia,” Kurniasih said in a written statement on Wednesday, April 26.

The chairperson of the Prosperous Justice Party’s (PKS) central executive board argued that the Taipei authority’s finding could be an alarm and valuable input. If the product was not circulating in Indonesia, BPOM still needs to check the same products given the past two cases abroad.

Kurniasih also requested that BPOM conduct a safety sampling test to ensure that instant noodle products circulating in Indonesia are safe for consumption. “Give consumers a sense of security, one of which is by conducting regular sampling tests and announcing the results to the public so that people feel protected when consuming medicinal and food products,” she underlined.

Although there are different food safety standards in each country, she opined that it is necessary to clarify the test results of the Indomie instant noodles conducted by Taiwan as input for BPOM.

To date, the Codex Allimentarius Commission (CAC) as an international organization under the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have not yet regulated ethylene oxide or EtO and its derivative compounds.

MOH. KHORY ALFARIZI

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