Instant Soup Cups

About Instant Soup Cups

Clear research has provided alarming support: Certain instant noodle soups come in lightweight, tall, narrow-based cups that have consistently caused severe emergency room burns several times per week. The dry soup mix is combined with boiling water in a foam cup. Customers must pour the boiling water into the cup, transporting it from one container heated in a microwave or on a stove--which creates the first potential for accidents to happen if that water spills. But then a second risky situation arises: customers are advised to let the soup sit for a few minutes, so they leave it on the counter to cool. With young children around, a small bump or wobbly reach for the soup results in scalding liquid splashing onto their bodies, with heat-retaining noodles sticking to their skin and intensifying the burns.

A 2006 study conducted by Shriner’s Hospital for Children states, “Instant soups are packaged in containers that tend to be tall with a narrow base that predisposes them to being knocked over and spilled. Simple redesigning of instant soup packaging with a wider base and shorter height, along with the requirement for warnings about the risks of burns would reduce the frequency of soup burns.” Nissin’s Cup of Noodles is a popular example that dangerously uses a very light, easily-tipped cup. Campbell’s “Soup at Hand” also uses a tall, tip-able design. Nicecook, however, employs a shorter, wider bowl shape that is much more difficult to knock over. Several other brands were tested as well, tipping at some point in the range between Nissin and Nicecook. Adding to the danger of Nissin’s Cup of Soup in particular, however, is the fact that it is of the most popular and widespread, having been around already for forty years, with over 25 billion products sold worldwide.

So “boiling” the situation down, it all appears to be a perfect storm. Instant soups are 1) particularly popular, especially with young kids, who naturally 2) are more prone to accidents. The soups often come in 3) tall, tip-able foam cups. They often 4) contain many heat-retaining, sticky noodles that deepen burns. Instant soup is particularly 5) inexpensive to buy, and 6) appealingly quick to prepare. Yet being too quick in 7) transferring boiling water between containers, or leaving the particularly 8) slowly-cooling soup unattended to stand on the counter while hungry kids circle, may come at a painful cost. 

This research provides clear support for the fact that essentially all Nissin has to do is to redesign its cups in order to lessen the frequency of these burn accidents.  Safer designs need not be expensive or complicated for the company, either. The same materials could be used, but the dimensions of the cup could change to a wider, shorter, safer version. Nevertheless, Dr. David Greenhalgh—who led Shriner Hospital’s 2006 study—reportedly contacted “…Nissin and manufacturers of some of the other "tippiest" cups” in the study, yet received either no comment or no response at all. Despite the simple solution to reducing burn victims, Nissin still has not given much acknowledgement to the concern.

Standing in high contrast to these facts, also, is Nissin’s product description found on their website: “Innovative packaging also helps ensure that every Nissin product can be easily stored and prepared quickly and conveniently.” Some realistic details may be missing in that description, it seems. Taking legal action may help move the company to change, as well as provide at least monetary compensation for physical and emotional damages to burn patients. 

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