With reporting from Riham Sheble

Qatar authorities are investigating a popular brand of fast-cooking noodles after Saudi Arabia took them off store shelves across the country because they contained pork products.

In a tweet, Qatar’s Ministry of Economy and Commerce said that it has confiscated samples of a food product here because it was found by a “neighboring country” to contain pork.

The noodles are now being tested locally, though don’t appear to have been recalled from the market.

https://twitter.com/MEC_QATAR/status/551431725868281858/

The brand was not identified, but from the photo in the tweet, appears to be of the Nissin Cup Noodles variety, of Japan.

The move comes after the Saudi Food and Drugs Authority (SFDA) said yesterday that it was investigating how the noodles were introduced into KSA’s market, even though the product’s clearance had been rejected.

In a statement, the SFDA added that the noodles were prohibited from entering the country because they contained pork derivatives, unauthorized artificial coloring and gelatin from unknown sources.

But the agency also did not identify the name of the product or its origins.

In the Gulf, the sale of pork products is usually strictly regulated, as Muslims are prohibited from eating anything derived from the animal.

Thoughts?