New Zealand Food Safety is investigating a massively popular spicy South Korean noodle brand due to potential "health hazard" concerns.
A bunch of Samyang Foods' Buldak noodles have been banned over in Denmark this week for containing huge levels of capsaicin - the active ingredient in chilli peppers that causes the intense burn.
The fiery flavours in question are Buldak’s 3x Spicy & Hot Chicken, 2x Spicy & Hot Chicken, and Hot Chicken Stew.
"The noodle dishes marketed as extremely strong must no longer be sold because consumers and especially children risk acute poisoning,” The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration said in a recall statement.
"THE CAPSAICIN CONTENT IS SO HIGH THAT IT CAN POSE A HEALTH HAZARD."
New Zealand Food Safety is now looking into the risk for Kiwis, with deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle telling 1News: "Because Samyang noodles are also available in NZ, we are looking into this issue.”
"As always, if we consider there to be a food safety risk, we will take swift action, including recalling the product for public safety."
Just how spicy are these noodles? The Buldak 3x Spicy & Hot Chicken packs the heat with a Scoville rating of 13,200. The 2x Spicy comes in at 8,808, and the Hot Chicken Stew, the least spicy of the bunch, still delivers a kick at 4,705 Scoville units.
A spokesperson for Samyang Foods told the BBC they understand the concern. They reckon the recall isn't about quality, just the crazy spiciness. They added, "This is the first time [the noodles] have been recalled for the above reason."
So if you’ve got any of these ramen flavours in your pantry, you might want to keep an eye out.
