Experts suspect flavouring which have more ingredients.
Are two-minute noodles safe to eat? This has become an important question for many consumers who often eat this instant meal because it is quick to make and often in poor communities because it is cheap and quickly fill up empty tummies.
Five children died after eating two-minute noodles recently, two in Mpumalanga and three in the Eastern Cape, while the department of health is investigating a case of food poisoning in Gauteng.
However, there has been no conclusion about what the children died from.
Instant noodles or ramen are a precooked and dried block of noodles sold with a sachet of flavouring that are cooked or soaked in boiling water before eating.
The instant variety of noodles was created by Momofuku Ando in Japan and first sold in 1958. Ando developed the process of flash frying noodles to ensure a longer shelf life. In Western countries they are usually air-dried.
Dr Hanli de Beer, senior consumer science lecturer at the North-West University, says there is little chance any organism can grow on them if the packets are sealed.
"Although it does not spoil, what happened during the preparation and when the children ate it would be important. Food poisoning happens when a toxic substance is in the food that is eaten. Symptoms appear within a few hours," she says.
De Beer says the toxin could also be chemical, such as where a container used to prepare the noodles is contaminated.
However, she and Nicola Brook, director of Foodpath, suspect the flavouring as it contains many more ingredients than the noodles which could be contaminated.
Manufacturer Nestlé has not been contacted regarding the incidents.
