Here is what Barbara Mikkelson, of Snopes.com, (an excellent online reference for urban legends) says about this rumour:
Claim: Cups of instant noodles pose a danger thanks to the wax used to line the cups.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2000]
For our health concern, pls pass on the msg to those you know who loves Instand Noodles.
This is what I heard from a fellow colleague. Her nephew, who was studying in UK for about one and a half years, likes to eat cup-a-noodle. And guess what!
His doctor has found that there is a layer of wax lining the walls of his stomach. Seems that instand noodles that comes with foam containers contain an edible layer of wax. However, regular consumptions make it hard for our livers to clear the toxic.
This person died when he went for an operation to try to remove the layer. Pls do not boil the noodles in the container. Transfer to a glass bowl before you put the hot water.
Origins: Who dreams up these wild-assed scares anyway? This latest caution against a non-existent lurking threat made its Internet debut in early October 2000.
Styrofoam does an excellent job all on its own in keeping a hot liquid hot, and the thicker "heat 'n' serve" containers made of it stand up very well to microwave heating. There'd be no need to use wax on such a container, because any use it could possibly serve is already well handled by the styrofoam.
Besides, coating with wax the interior of a styrofoam container one knows would be used to heat a product would be rather pointless, because heat will melt wax, thus incorporating what was supposed to be part of the package into the foodstuff. Manufacturers of instant foods have a hard enough time convincing folks that their stuff tastes good enough to eat without introducing melted wax into the equation.
Even if wax were used in the styrofoam containers, and even if some of it did get into the food, it wouldn't adversely affect the average person. (It might possibly cause a problem for infants or those with damaged or impaired digestive systems, but not ordinary, healthy adults.) Though it's not generally known, a number of candies routinely contain wax products. (Rowntree's "Smarties" and Just Born's "Peeps" immediately come to mind -- carnauba wax is used in these products, as it is in candy corn.) In some confections, the wax is more upfront, as countless children who've indulged in wax lips and wax "soda" bottles will happily attest. To the best of our knowledge, none of the indulgers in these products have had to have the wax scraped out of their stomachs (including my husband, who in the Octobers of his childhood happily ate several pieces of wax a day).
This badly-constructed scare would have us believe someone's unnamed nephew in the United Kingdom died from a buildup of wax in his stomach. Wax, like just about anything else one swallows, is pushed through the digestive system and exits the body as part of a bowel movement. Nothing inherently special in wax would turn it into a permanent coating clinging forever to the stomach lining.
Use your noodle, and don't pass this silly scare on.
Barbara "looking for a few good ramens" Mikkelson
Facebook
Twitter