Three fiery flavours of the Samyang instant ramen line are being withdrawn: Buldak 3x Spicy & Hot Chicken, 2x Spicy & Hot Chicken and Hot Chicken Stew.
Denmark’s food agency issued the recall and warning on Tuesday, urging consumers to abandon the product.
It’s unknown if any specific incidents have prompted the Danish authorities into taking action.
They were recalled because the level of Capsaicin has caused symptoms of poisoning in younger individuals. A consumer asked the board of food and safety if it was really allowed to sell the strong variants. They looked at them, and measured that they contained even more Capsaicin than the Hot Chip Challenge, which has caused hospitalizations in Germany. Combined with it being a TikTok/Instagram trend to try and eat them, food and safety decided to recall them
I really like the stew ones, x3 were just dumb
I found the x2 were pretty tasty, but it’d be unpleasant for a few hours before the ring of fire, and that’d usually disrupt my sleep a bit, so it wasn’t worth it. I just went with the regular spice level instead. I haven’t tried the x3, but it seems like it’s getting a bit silly by that point.
I had a 1x spicy variant from these producers and it was pretty intense but still enjoyable, and I’m used to some heat but normally try to stay below 100.000 Scoville (ish) to still have fun. I can imagine if you are used to nothing spicywise and try their 3x spicy stuff you might get poisoning. Maybe the time is ripe to have a global rating or warning label for spicy foods. Everyone always already tries to convey the spicyness-level, especially for guests/tourists and such. Why not try to make a standard for spicy warnings, you could even have region variability like in clothing labels.
They were recalled because the level of Capsaicin has caused symptoms of poisoning in younger individuals
Is it really “poisoning” if some subset of consumers can’t eat something?
Like if some Danes are severely allergic to shellfish are they going to pull all crabs off the market?
If it’s temporary until labeling standards can be defined and implemented, that makes sense to me but just blanket removal seems like an overreaction.
If it causes you to get nauseous and throw up, I would call it poisoning
If I eat a kilo of cheese and puke, can we ban cheese from the market?
To the doctor treating a patient, they don’t care about the legal definition. A poisoned patient is a poisoned patient.
Additionally, “causing symptoms of” a thing is a very different statement from “causing”. Covid causes symptoms of the flu, for example.
Alcohol is also poison yet you don’t see them take that off the shelves. Dumbass lmao.
Being an asshole is a bad look, but even worse when you’re a confidently incorrect one.
Since when is Canada in Denmark? Still a dumbass take lmao.
My take is that the people who were treated were treated for symptoms of poisoning, and that pretending they weren’t is a stupid, petty, and useless line to fixate on. They were exhibiting symptoms of poisoning. They weren’t poisoned in the traditional sense that immediately comes to mind when you hear the word and imagine the action, but what happened to them was the same stuff that would happen to someone who was. We can all move on now.
The problem is that the ban is a fucking stupid idea as compared to better labelling and/or age controls.
Yes let’s move and ignore the fact that what you’re saying is any product that can make anyone remotely sick should be treated as poison. 🙄🙄🙄
Pretty sure I had some of the 3x last week, though I didn’t finish them. They were pretty spicy yes but also they just didn’t taste very nice, it didn’t seem worth it.
I mean the logo has a crying chicken on it so yea
I have tried it, I don’t think it’s dangerous, it’s just too spicy for me.
I had the (I think) black packet/hottest once and it was so boring. There’s no flavour behind the heat, very disappointing.
The black one is the 1x and is the tastiest of the three in my opinion. The 3x seems to be tastier than the 2x (both red), but that’s based on memory, as I haven’t tasted them side by side. We buy the 1x quite often and add some extra ingredients to it (egg, spring onions, crispy chili oil, cheese). It’s spicy, but not extremely so according to our taste, especially not with the extra ingredients.
What are you talking about, that stuff is delicious
I know right, they’re my favorite specifically because theyre not just spicy but delicious too! Especially the cheese one.
I’ve had a couple of the flavours and the cheese one (with an extra slice of American cheese stirred in, if you’re feeling cheesy), the classic one, and the habanero lime ones were my favourite so far.
Habanero lime is sooo good. The jjajang and the cream carbonara are also great.
I think a lot of people cook them wrong though and maybe that’s why they don’t think they taste good. It’s really important that you add the 1/4 cup water (remain 8 tbsp!) with the sauce packet at the end and then stir fry it until it’s thick again, this usually takes me about 2 or 3 extra minutes on med-high.
Sometimes I add cream cheese and a little mozzarella to the black packet, and/or a single egg near the end.
Personally I just cook the noodles, drain, and then add the sauce without cooking it further.
Maybe I should try it the way you said though!
They could also just be making it as a regular instant ramen soup, in which case I can imagine feeling like there’s no flavour other than the heat.
I’ve basically decided to give up on Buldak.
I like spicy food, generally, but I ate the black one too and it was all spice and no taste.
I then tried one that was supposed to be cheese flavour (and not even the spicy cheese flavour, just regular normal cheese) and that was also somehow just spicy in a really boring way.
The pink carbo one isn’t bad. Definitely has other flavours in there, not just spicy. That said, I also don’t add the entire sachet of hot sauce…
There is no Buldak flavor that isn’t spicy. They all start with the same “hot chicken” base flavoring, then have additional flavorings added. The 2x and 3x varieties just have more capsaicin in the base. Like, a LOT more. I bought a 4 pack of 2x by mistake (thought it was original) and had to force myself to finish a bowl. It was painful. The regular spicy versions I would consider to be about the equivalent of a bowl of ramen with a few dashes of a relatively spicy hot sauce. Tasty and not unpleasant for me at all. But everyone’s tolerance levels are different.
I think these noodles may have given me diarrhea, but it’s also possible I just happened to have it for another reason. Either way I’m not in Denmark, so that wasn’t the incident.
Never understand the appealing of extremely spicy foods. You can barely taste any flavor behind the hotness, you’re torturing yourself and causing literal harms to your intestines and guts microbes for a pack of fuckin instant noodles.
It’s a dick measuring thing.
Is anyone who enjoys something that you don’t measuring their dick, or does it have something to do with the inherent double entendre related to noodles?
I mean, when I eat spicy things I’m not even thinking about my genitals; I’m enjoying my food.
I never said I don’t enjoy spicy food. But it’s so obviously a dick measuring contest for most people. No one talks about how much salt they can “handle”, no one makes fun of people for not being able to stomach a really sweet energy drink. But with capsaicin it’s so prevalent, it’s a whole subculture dedicated to pissing in a line. I mean this whole thread is only popular because the initial proposed underlying thought is “haha, Denmark can’t handle spice”. It’s all very juvenile.
It also clashes a bit with how I understand enjoying food. I get that you can maybe build up a tolerance to capsaicin that’s different to a “sugar tolerance”, but typically I don’t go for the food with the most sweet flavor or the most smoky flavor just because I like those specific flavors. Why, following a similar logic there would be a smoked food challenge where people eat fucking charcoal, no?
me, looking down at my pants Ohhhhh, so that’s why I’ve never felt the need to do any of that, I eat my noodles normally and I drive a subcompact, if you know what I mean. ;)
Yeah, I get it. You’re cordless, right?
Yeah, no cord. Just a huge battery attached.
My ex could barely taste the heat so they loved everything crazy hot by normal standards.
Not everyone has extreme reactions to it.
a pain tolerance builds up fast and people like the endorphin high that comes with the intense heat.
Saw a guy on YT eating hot wings with some sauce that’s rated like a million scoville, then the dude wipe his tear with his hands.
Poor dude, but the endorphins must have felt great.
Are you able to parse the difference between people who eat hot food because they enjoy it, and people who don’t normally eat hot food being fed extremely hot food for YouTube clicks?
The 1x is super tasty, but yeah after that it’s just got it doesn’t taste better. Dick measuring at that point
I’ve tried so many spicy things and I have the same thoughts. The hottest thing that still retains flavors, imo, is a habanero. I’ve tried tons of peppers and the sauces featured on Hot Ones and, yeah they are certainly hot; but there’s not really any nuance and anything you put them on will taste entirely like the sauce. Even with just a dab.
I tried the spiciest one and yeah it was insanely hot but nothing else. It was like eating noodles with capsaicin, no flavour at all.
So any folks out there in Denmark, feel free to send those to me…for…“disposal”
In related news, US consumers were reported to have been hoarding Samyang instant Spicy & Hot ramen while watching episodes of Hot Ones.
Removed by mod
Dansk Fødevarestyrelse: bans product containing poisonous amounts of popular chemical
Rest of the world: laughs at Denmark for “not being able to handle spicy food” 🙄
Painful exposures to capsaicin-containing peppers are among the most common plant-related exposures presented to poison centers.[31] They cause burning or stinging pain to the skin and, if ingested in large amounts by adults or small amounts by children, can produce nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and burning diarrhea. Eye exposure produces intense tearing, pain, conjunctivitis, and blepharospasm.[32]
Ingestion of high quantities of capsaicin can be deadly,[37] particularly in people with heart problems.[38] Even healthy young people can suffer adverse health effects like myocardial infarction after ingestion of capsaicin capsules.[39]
Negative reactions to capsaicin generally only happen when people who are unused to spicy foods ingest something too spicy for their level of tolerance. So yes, this is Denmark “not being able to handle spicy food”. The problem here is probably people with zero tolerance trying to eat it as a ‘challenge’.
Negative reactions to capsaicin generally only happen when people who are unused to spicy foods ingest something too spicy for their level of tolerance
That’s a common misconception. One that leads to many poisonings of “seasoned veterans” every year.
So yes, this is Denmark "not being able to handle spicy food
No, this is the Danish food agency doing their job of minimizing preventable food poisoning.
The problem here is probably people with zero tolerance trying to eat it as a ‘challenge’.
Again with the common misconception. No matter how many times you’ve heard people who love spicy food say that doesn’t make it true and neither does YOUR repeatedly claiming it.
Source for YOUR claims?
Already posted several in the comment you originally replied to…
None of that contradicts my point about tolerance…
I tried these noodles once, and once only. They have more in common with riot control agents than with actual food, and there’s no reason to eat them other than to demonstrate toughness.
I’m not saying Denmark is right in banning them, but they shouldn’t be sold alongside food. Perhaps keep them in a locked cabinet behind the counter, next to fireworks and such.
I tried them too recently and I really like spicy food, but they were just nasty.
I was inspired to eat one now (different flavor so probably not as spicy). The spice is fine but the noodles are gross. I think I’m just going to use the flavor packets with Top or Maruchan ramen.
Frozen tteokbokki takes slightly longer to make, but is worth a few extra minutes.
I like the Ktown Mad Spicy as a pretty consistent go-to. You can make your own and go even hotter, but of course less convenient than frozen.
+1 for Ktown Mad Spicy.
However I must point out they are not rice cakes, but wheat cakes. Also, tteokbokki benefits a lot from having some cabbage and onion mixed into it… delicious!
You can buy the spicy sauce in a bottle, I have one in the fridge and throw it on my rice regularly. I like the noodles personally (not the carbonara flavor that seems to be popular now, it’s not for me). Maybe Korean style ramyun is just not your thing.
The regular ones are one of my favorite ramen packet brands. I’ve never tried the 2x or 3x spicy types. I could see 2x being good because you definitely build up a tolerance and I find the normal ones don’t quite give the same kick anymore. 3x seems excessive but who knows.
Yeah, alongside whatever other foods from other cultures that we dislike!
Unless it is demonstrated to be genuinely dangerous, it should be sold as normal. If no one liked them, they wouldn’t sell.
https://feddit.dk/comment/8769989
Turns out they were demonstrated
Ok, then I agree it shouldn’t be sold anywhere.
Let’s ban peanuts, shrimp and milk too, some people will also get poisoning symptoms from them too.
Yeah, in the same sense that peanuts are dangerous to some people…
Nanny state.
I’ve had that one, in an import variety pack I bought in the states.
It did not fuck around. Was good. And my tastebuds grew back eventually.
What were they expecting ?