Wax on Instant Noodles - Truth or Scare?

Wax on instant noodles - truth or scare?

When I first started to blog about instant noodles, concerned family and friends quickly tried to dissuade me, warning me about the potential health hazards of eating excessive amounts of instant noodles.

Many of the hazards mentioned caused me to pause and wonder if they were right.

One of the oft cited hazards of instant noodles is that wax is used to coat strands of instant noodles to keep them apart.

According to this claim, when we eat our noodles along with the wax coating, the wax gets trapped in our bodies for 2 to 3 days before it is discharged. While in us, the wax wrecks havoc in our bodies causing terrible diseases like cancer.

Truth or scare?

Here are the facts that debunk the wax on instant noodle scare.

Wax cannot keep strands of instant noodles separate because wax melts in hot water. Wax melts at 45°C, well below the boiling point of water which everyone knows is 100°C. If manufacturers were to really rely on wax to keep the strands of instant noodles apart, it would simply defeat the purpose. The wax would melt and all the noodle strands would stick together in an unappetising clump. Very bad for business.

The normal manufacturing process of cutting the wheat dough into strands of noodles, cooking them by steaming and then frying in oil or air drying them would naturally keep the strands of noodles apart. There is no need for wax at all.

For more on instant noodles and health, go to noodle grader blog.

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