S’porean Mum Creates Healthier Instant Noodles After Daughter’s Severe Food Allergy Scare

A health scare from artificial colouring

Lam’s motivation to rework one of Singaporeans’ comfort foods wasn’t solely due to personal preference. Her journey towards better nutrition began after 2012, when her daughter developed severe pneumonia after an undetected allergy to artificial food colouring.

Lam, who was heavily pregnant with her second child at the time, recalls how her three-year-old developed a fever and started coughing up blood. She spent a month in hospital.

Tests later found that she was allergic to artificial food colouring that is commonly used in processed snacks and candy. 

“It was then we realised – oh my goodness – it was from a particular chocolate candy that she really liked because it was colourful,” Lam recalled. 

Lam explained that the undetected allergy affected her daughter’s immune response, making her more vulnerable to infections such as pneumonia. 

While food allergies do not directly cause respiratory infections, some studies have found that they can trigger inflammation inside the body. When that happens, the immune system may be compromised, making the person more vulnerable to serious infections.

An emotional wreck from mum guilt

Wracked with guilt and anxiety, Lam left her marketing career immediately and stayed home to nurse her daughter back to health. Adding to her mental distress was the hospital bill – a five-figure sum – that wiped out their savings “to zero in the bank”.

“Emotionally, I was a wreck. The fear of possibly losing my daughter again was very real,” Lam said, recalling how she tried to control everything that went into her family’s meals.

That meant cooking everything from scratch, using organic produce and struggling with a grocery budget unsustainable for a single-income family. 

“I wanted to cook every meal, and I thought we have to eat organic because that’s what the world tells us – to be clean equals to be healthy. But it was damaging to our pockets,” she said. 

The more stressed and stricter she became with food, however, the worse Lam’s mental and physical health got. She also developed severe insomnia, and her eczema flared until she bled.

Finding middle ground and a healthier balance

The turning point came when Lam sought mental health support in 2013, which shifted how she related to her fears, views on food and health issues. Therapy helped her move away from seeing health and well-being as a rigid checklist of dos and don’ts.

She noticed how children often absorb their parents’ attitudes, anxiety and fears, including around food. Labelling certain foods as “bad” or “sinful”, Lam believes, can pass on fear and guilt, and may influence how the body reacts to it.

Instead of striving for perfection, Lam tried to achieve a more practical approach to food, and help her children, now aged 17 and 15, learn to navigate their food choices.

For instance, rather than ban her daughter from eating colourful candy entirely, Lam explained to her why she could no longer eat them and provided alternatives made with plant- or fruit-derived dyes. 

Lam said her mindset change towards a more balanced outlook was gradual, and she focused on what was practical and within her control. She started growing her own microgreens, or baby vegetables, which she added to her family’s daily meals for a nutritional boost. 

“The shift was progressive. When my daughter started primary school, we started to tabao (take away) food two to three times a week,” Lam said.

Helping others eat well

In 2015, Lam started Super Farmers as a microgreens and nutrition venture to share her knowledge. By then, she was in a better emotional space, and had armed herself with more nutrition and urban farming knowledge. 

She began with small workshops, bootstrapping the business from scratch and earning her first $600 from a corporate session. As more Singaporeans asked how to eat better, Lam created microgreen starter kits that allowed HDB-dwellers to grow low‑light, low‑care nutrient-dense baby vegetables.

To add credibility and deepen her knowledge, Lam completed an online course with The Nutrition Institute Australia and became a certified nutritionist in 2024. 

Applying what she knew to healthier instant noodles, however, was more difficult than expected. One of her biggest challenges was replicating “umami”, the comforting savoury flavour characteristic of conventional instant noodles and meaty broths.

Regular instant noodles are formulated to taste good, Lam said. “It's scientifically studied to hook you, from the things they add to the way the noodle curls. 

“I realised it’s very hard to achieve the same exact taste without using those additives, flavour enhancers or artificial flavouring.” 

It took about a year of research and experimentation with combinations of vegetables, spices and yeast extract to build the flavour naturally.

All of Super Farmers’ instant broth powders and noodles are vegan and contain no fillers or preservatives. Flavours include Not Chicken!, which mimics chicken soup flavour, Kimchi, and Garlic Mushroom. They’re available on her website.

The broth powders are made from 100 per cent vegetables and spices. The Not Chicken! instant broth powder for instance, blends garlic, onion, spring onion, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, parsley, turmeric, black pepper, paprika, and yeast extract to create a savoury taste.

Unlike conventional instant noodles, which are typically made with wheat and may contain palm oil and additives, Super Farmers’ noodles are 100 per cent rice noodles – similar to those used in Vietnamese pho. The broth tastes like a cleaner version of a classic chicken and vegetable soup. 

Lam credits yeast extract for helping to achieve the savoury taste – it naturally delivers the umami notes typically found in chicken or meaty broths.

Her latest product is Ready-in-90 Instant Oats, a quick porridge that can be prepared in 90 seconds. It includes dried fruit and chia seeds, which Lam said provide added fibre for a sustained release of blood glucose, and makes a healthier alternative to eating a local breakfast like chee cheong fun or fried carrot cake. More flavours and food items are in the works.

For Lam, the goal was never to ask people to give up their comfort foods, only to offer an alternative for days when they want to eat more healthily. 

Her message to mums is not to be too hard on themselves. She noted that many go to extreme lengths to keep their children healthy, and feel guilty when they fall short of their standards. 

“Let’s be real, when kids go to school, they will inevitably be exposed to different types of food with colouring, sugar and additives. We cannot live like we’re not urbanites,” she said, adding that she still enjoys regular instant noodles sometimes. 

Lam’s daughter has since outgrown her allergy to food colouring. These days, the mother of two focuses on strengthening her children’s immunity with supplements and a balanced, varied diet.

That approach has also taught her children to make informed food choices for themselves. “Because my daughter has eaten a lot of fruit and vegetables from young, she naturally favours them. At the food court, for example, she might go for fish soup instead of deep-fried food,” Lam said.

That said, the family occasionally enjoys foods like pizza and burgers when they feel like it – without guilt. 

“The paradigm shift for me was achieving a sense of balance. You can enjoy something that brings you joy even if society labels it as ‘not good’,” Lam said.

Super Farmers’ NOODS Instant Noodles are available on their website. More info via Instagram.

Source: CNA/pc

The original version of this story first appeared in CNA Lifestyle.

For more CNA Lifestyle stories, visit https://www.cnalifestyle.com.