Urgent warning issued as rise in children suffering life-changing burns from America’s favourite snack

For just a few dollars and a few minutes in the microwave, instant ramen makes an easy lunch or tasty snack.

But even a small leak can cause serious third-degree burns.

Nearly 40 percent of all burns treated at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital in recent years were injuries caused by the scalding soup.

And at the University of Chicago’s burn center, 31 percent of serious burns over a decade were caused by a seemingly innocent cup of soup.

Burn doctors are now warning that just half a second of contact with the hot water can cause serious injuries, potentially landing a child in the emergency room.

Instant ramen made in the microwave is heated to 300 degrees, well past boiling. Less than half a second of contact with liquid at this temperature can cause third-degree burns

The warnings come on the eve of a new school year, with millions of children filling their lunchboxes with snacks, including a potentially devastating bowl of noodles.

Denni Wilson, coordinator of the Oklahoma University Health trauma burn unit and a nurse, said KOCO-5: ‘At that temperature it takes less than half a second to cause a third-degree burn.’

The boiling point of water is 212 degrees Fahrenheit. But in the microwave, that temperature can rise to over 300 degrees.

Ms Wilson said: ‘What we are seeing is children using the microwaves on their own, and usually the microwaves are hotter than they would normally be in a home.

“And they stretch them out, and they’re hotter than they expected.”

Ms. Wilson reviewed the figures from recent years and found that of the 228 burns, 86 were from ramen noodles.

Most patients were children of high school age or older, but sometimes children as young as 18 months would knock a bowl off the counter and burn themselves.

The burns she has seen in the OU Health unit resemble fat burns. In addition to blistering, the burns cause swelling and peeling.

If the blisters burst or the skin becomes damaged, there is a greater risk of infection. This is manifested by an increase in redness, swelling and pus.

Since then, she’s started an awareness campaign at OU Health called the Ramen Noodle Program, handing out ramen that comes in bags, not containers.

She said, “Since 2021, when we started this, I’ve given out over 16,500 packages of ramen noodles so far. From 38 percent of our total burns that were ramen noodles, it’s now down to 11 percent.”

“If you notice blisters, you should seek medical attention,” Wilson said.

Researchers at the University of Chicago have similarly quantified the significant impact a boiling cup of noodles can have on an unsuspecting child.

Researchers from the university’s Burn Center collected data from burn patients from 2010 to 2020.

Of the 790 cases the team examined, 31 percent were linked to instant noodles. In addition, unsupervised children were at increased risk: 40 percent of instant noodle burns occurred when the children were alone at the time of the incident.

Dr. Sebastian Vrouwe, lead author of the report and professor of surgery at UChicago Medicine, said: ‘Anecdotally, we found that every second child we consulted for a burn had been injured by instant noodles, so we wanted to examine the data to see what the real trend was.

‘The heat in these noodles can cause second- and third-degree burns to anyone, but young children are especially vulnerable because of their relatively small bodies and thinner skin.’

Burn experts say adults should always remove noodles from the microwave to minimize spills and keep them out of reach until the liquid has cooled to about 120 degrees Fahrenheit.