Noodle brands

Noodle brands are the marks under which instant and other noodles are made. Most of the best-known grew out of Asian companies between the 1950s and the 1980s, after Nissin showed the world the first instant block. The world eats more than 120 billion servings a year, and there are many brands behind that figure.

First came Japan's Nissin: Chicken Ramen in 1958 and Cup Noodles on 18 September 1971. Maruchan joined instant-noodle making in Japan in 1961; it started in 1953 distributing frozen fish in Tokyo, has made noodles in the US since 1977, and today makes 3.6 billion packs of ramen a year.

In Korea, Samyang Foods, founded on 24 August 1961, launched Korea's first ramen in 1963 and the hot Buldak in 2012. Nongshim took the largest share of Korea's instant-noodle market in 1985 and developed Shin Ramyun in 1986.

In Southeast Asia, Indomie appeared in 1972 with a chicken flavour, and brothless Mi Goreng followed in 1982; its capacity is up to 19 billion packs a year. On 15 February 1972 Thai President Foods was founded in Thailand to make Mama noodles, and full production of chicken-flavour noodles began in 1973. In the Philippines Lucky Me! launched in 1989 and in 1991 brought out Pancit Canton, which pioneered dry stir-fried noodles in a pouch.

Why it matters to you. The same brand has different recipes in different countries, so read the ingredients and the salt on the pack from your own market; the WHO advises adults to eat under 5 g of salt a day.