Vietnam came fourth in the global instant noodle consumption rankings as it consumed more than 5.1 billion packets of instant noodles in 2012.

China tops the list with 44 billion packets, followed by Indonesia with 14.1 billion and Japan with 5.4 billion, according to Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) website.

According to the World Instant Noodles Association based in Osaka , Japan , 101.4 billion packets of instant noodles are consumed worldwide every year.

Instant noodles were invented by Japanese businessman Momofuku Ando, who also founded the Nissin Foods Holdings Company in 1958.-VNA