Lucky Me!’s bad luck

There’s pesticide in our favorite instant noodles. So what? (Photo: Lucky Me!)

Popular noodle brand Lucky Me! Pancit Canton was recalled in France, Ireland, Malta, and Taiwan after high levels of ethylene oxide were found in its export products last Thursday. 

As a result, shares of its manufacturing company Monde Nissin fell as much as 3.6% early Friday after a 7.2% slump since Thursday. 

Following an investigation by the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Health (DOH) cleared local stock since the stock for export was made in a different plant in Thailand.

Ethylene oxide is commonly used to disinfect herbs and spices. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported it could cause cancer and neurological problems, such as memory loss and impaired hand and eye coordination, but that would take years of exposure.

Unless you’re a factory or hospital worker working with large amounts of ethylene oxide daily, traces normally found in your food won’t be much of a problem. So if Monde Nissin claimed it doesn’t directly add the chemical to their noodles and the FDA said that Monde complies with Philippine and US standards, what else is the issue?

(READ ALSO: What’s in a pack of Lucky Me! noodles?)

Besides the fact that ethylene oxide is banned in the EU, the FDA also said the EU “set maximum residue levels at a very low level” for the chemical based on the type of commodity. As it turns out, this standard doesn’t just apply to our favorite chilimansi-flavored noodles.

The EU’s “great detox”

Last April, the European Commission published the Restrictions Roadmap, identifying the toxic substances linked to various cancers, obesity, diabetes, and other illnesses which should be outlawed. This could result in the world’s largest ban of up to 12,000 chemicals found in 74% of products including food packaging, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, pesticides, and more over the next five years.

Titanium oxide, a whitener used in candies, pastries, and gum, has been recently banned in the EU for being a possible carcinogen. Potassium bromate, an oxidizing agent often found in bread and dough, was linked to kidney and thyroid cancers. It’s been banned in the EU since 1990 but is still commonly used in the US.  

The US FDA “generally recognizes” these chemicals as safe, but EU officials say otherwise.

Compared to US regulations which companies like Monde follow, EU laws are more preventive than reactive. “The US often waits until the harm is done and the EU tries to prevent it to a certain extent. It often seems the US favors the market over protection,” said Tatiana Santos, chemicals manager at the European Environmental Bureau.

​​Furthermore, the EU’s environment commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevičius said the new restrictions “aim to reduce exposure of people and the environment to some of the most harmful chemicals.”

Despite the great purge that would ensue on supermarket shelves, Santos said research shows such bans may push companies “to innovate when chemicals may be banned.” Hopefully, it could inspire other agencies like the US FDA to follow suit.

Can we “grow” our cake and eat it too?

Food security is currently not an issue in the EU, so this might be easier said than done for other countries where hunger has risen since the pandemic. 

As with viruses, not all chemicals are bad. Some additives help our food last longer, while some give us the nutrients we need when natural sources are hard to access. 

While the EU means well with their goal of reducing the health and environmental impact of chemicals, the rest of the world might not be ready to keep up just yet. Framing “organic” and “homegrown” food as the only real and acceptable options out there is an often used marketing tactic (see also: greenwashing). Bad economic policy has no bandwidth for these kinds of foods either, especially when imports seem like an easier way out. 

To rehash a popular Filipino saying, “That’s it, pancit (That’s it, noodles).” Rhyme doesn’t need reason when “unsafe” foods like Pancit Canton remain a staple in the masses’ diet out of choice or necessity, and there are clearly more urgent matters to worry about.