Betty Ang, pioneer of Monde Nissin, the Philippines’ largest instant noodle producer, and company chairman Hartono Kweefanus lost their billionaire title due to recent product recalls of Lucky Me! in the Europe and Taiwan. The incident wiped a massive 24.4 billion pesos ($436 million) in stock value for Monde Nissin in the past few days.
Following reports of product recalls issued after regulators found traces of ‘ethylene oxide’ in Lucky Me! instant noodles, rival brands, and other companies’ products such as ice cream, sesame seeds, and spices, shares of the Philippine-listed company fell more than 9% on Thursday and Friday (July 7 and 8), its biggest two-day drop since its market debut in June 2021, to close the week at 13.04 pesos, as per reports from Forbes.
In a statement, Monde Nissin highlighted that the said chemical isn’t used in their products and explained that it’s used in spices and seeds to prevent microbial growth.
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“We would like to clarify that ethylene oxide is not added in Lucky Me! products. It is a commonly used treatment in spices and seeds to control microbial growth typical in agricultural products. These materials, when processed into seasoning and sauces, may still show traces of ehtylene oxide. Rest assured that all Lucky Me! products are Philippine FDA registered and comply with local food safety standards and even the U.S. FDA standards for ethylene oxide,” read their statement.
This week, the stock is already recovering from last week’s losses. However, Monde Nissin president Betty Ang’s net worth has dropped from $1.2 billion when the Forbes World Billionaires list was released in April to $982 million as of posting time. Meanwhile, Hartono Kweefanus, Ang’s brother-in-law, has a net worth of $982 million, down from $1.2 billion from the same Forbes’ listing.
