The recall of a popular noodle brand in Malaysia and Taiwan has generated controversy and false claims in Nigeria where noodles are sold under the same brand. One claim holds that Indomie noodles found in Nigeria are not manufactured locally. This is misleading: the company producing Indomie noodles in Nigeria began operations in Ogun state in 1996 and later opened two other factories in Rivers and Kaduna. The recall was confined to Asia.

“I am just finding out that Indomie is produced in Indonesia. I thought it was made in Nigeria. This country really need to move from consumption to production (sic),” reads a tweet published on May 1, 2023.

Retweeted more than 1,200 times, the post was shared by Obinna Nwosu, a politician who campaigned for a national assembly seat in February as the candidate of the fringe opposition African Democratic Congress.

The tweet includes an image of a packet of Indomie noodles, a popular brand in Nigeria.

A noodle product of the Indomie brand was recently recalled by Malaysian and Taiwanese authorities (archived here) for containing ethylene oxide.

“The detection of ethylene oxide in the product did not comply with [health standards],” said Taiwan’s health ministry in a statement (archived here). “Businesses have been ordered to immediately remove them from their shelves.”

The colourless and odourless compound increases the “risk of cancers of the white blood cells” (archived here).

The Asian recall was widely reported in Nigeria where...

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