Thailand Public Health Ministry has called on importers of instant noodles to check their products for possible traces of contamination by ethylene oxide residue.
Yongyos Thammawut, Public Health Ministry’s Deputy Permanent Secretary said that random checks should be conducted on imported noodles after the European Union recently found the chemical in vanilla flavouring used in more than 10 recipes of popular ice cream brand.
Yongyos said ethylene oxide is categorised as a dangerous substance by the 1992 Hazardous Substance Act. The substance has potential to cause cancer by mutating genes and can also affect the reproductive system. Consuming ethylene dioxide can also irritate the eyes, skin and respiratory system, as well as the central nervous system.
Thammawut said the EU has banned the use of ethylene oxide for sanitisation, but some countries still allow its use. He said Thailand will mark any food with ethylene contamination as substandard food in line with the 1979 Food Standard Act.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s Medical Sciences Department has developed a technique for detecting ethylene oxide contamination in food products, called Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). This technique is a standard method used by the EU to check for pesticides.
Importers of instant noodles can have their imported noodles undergo random tests at only Bt 5,000 (US$143.30) per sample.
