Vermicelli: one name for at least three different noodles

Vermicelli is one name for at least three different noodles, and the evidence splits along that seam. In 10 healthy adults aged 20 to 30, mung bean glass noodles scored a glycemic index of 28 and an insulin index of 38, the lowest of five Chinese staple starches tested against brown rice at 82. That number belongs to bean starch and does not carry over to wheat or rice vermicelli, which were tested separately: two British rice vermicelli products came out low glycemic index, while a plain steamed vermicelli roll came out high. In 18 adults, boiled mung bean noodles gave glucose and insulin responses like raw starch, while cooking raised the response sharply for every other starch in that 1989 trial, which says something about the bean starch matrix rather than about how long you boil. US food databases hold exactly one item called vermicelli and it is made from soy, so every published nutrient figure under this name describes a bean-starch noodle. US law reads the other way: 21 CFR 139.110(d) defines vermicelli as a wheat macaroni product in cord shape no thicker than 0.06 inch.

The numbers, per 3.5 oz (100 g)

As people eat it, per 3.5 oz (100 g)

How much is actually in it

• US food databases hold only one item called vermicelli and it is made from soy, so every published nutrient figure under that name describes a bean-starch noodle rather than wheat or rice vermicelli. — USDA FoodData Central and FNDDS entries matching the name vermicelli (n = 1 USDA record) Evidence E source
  One SR Legacy record only (FDC 169884, Legumes and Legume Products); no Foundation samples, so no sample spread; no UK CoFID entry at all, so no second independent number
• Soy vermicelli carries 1.916 mg of copper per 3.5 oz (100 g), which is 213 percent of the US Daily Value, plus 27 microgram selenium and 4.24 mg zinc. — USDA reference entry Vermicelli, made from soy (FDC 169884, SR Legacy) (n = 1 dataset entry) Evidence E source
  Copper 1.916 mg (213 percent DV), selenium 27 microgram (49 percent DV), zinc 4.24 mg (39 percent DV) per 3.5 oz (100 g) dry

What a real portion looks like

• US survey coding puts a cup of soy vermicelli at 140 g, and uses the same 140 g when no quantity is reported. — US dietary survey portion coding for vermicelli made from soybeans (n = 2 dataset entries) Evidence E source
  1 cup = 140 g; quantity not specified = 140 g

What your body absorbs

• Mung bean vermicelli had a glycemic index of 28 and an insulin index of 38 in ten healthy adults, the lowest of five Chinese staple starches tested against brown rice at 82. — 10 healthy adults aged 20 to 30, each given 50 g available carbohydrate portions of five test foods and a reference food, capillary glucose and insulin over 120 min (n = 10) Evidence B source
  Mung bean noodles GI 28 (SD 0.5), GL 7 (SD 0.2), insulin index 38 (SD 0.3); brown rice GI 82, taro 69, adlay 55, yam 52
• Boiling barely opens up mung bean noodle starch: in 18 adults cooked mung bean noodles gave glucose and insulin responses like raw starch, while cooking every other starch raised them sharply. — 18 healthy adults randomly assigned to three of the test starches, each as raw starch, boiled and cooled gel, or an industrially processed form, wheat as extrudate, manihot as tapioca and mung bean as noodles (n = 18) Evidence B source
  Cooking raised plasma responses at P below 0.01 overall, but cooked mung bean noodles matched raw products; in vitro alpha-amylolysis at 30 min correlated with the glycemic and insulin areas at r = 0.95

What cooking and storage change

• How vermicelli is cooked decides its glycemic class: in 15 adults fried rice vermicelli Singapore style landed among the low GI foods while a plain steamed vermicelli roll landed among the high GI ones. — 15 healthy adults in Hong Kong, 8 men and 7 women, each tested on glucose or one of 23 Chinese traditional foods after a 10 to 14 h fast, capillary glucose over 120 min (n = 15) Evidence B source
  6 of 23 foods low GI including fried rice vermicelli Singapore style; 7 high GI including plain steamed vermicelli roll

Safety, limits and interactions

• In a Sichuan banquet outbreak, eating pork mixed with vermicelli carried 12 times the odds of illness, and Salmonella blegdam was isolated from that very dish. — 50 cases and 50 controls drawn from 304 people at a village banquet in Sichuan province in August 2009, case defined by fever, diarrhea three or more times a day and vomiting (n = 100 in the case-control analysis, 132 cases among 304 exposed) Evidence C source
  Pork-mixed-vermicelli OR 12.0 (95% CI 4.4 to 32) with a dose-response trend (chi-square 21.06, P = 0.00); overall attack rate 43.4 percent
• A Hangzhou university outbreak with a median incubation of three hours was traced to vermicelli carrying Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin. — students of a university in Hangzhou who ate at one nearby snack restaurant in 2014, case-control and field investigation, 18 samples tested (n = 18 samples, 3 stool and 6 food positive) Evidence C source
  Incubation 1.5 to 5.0 hours, median 3; Staphylococcus enterotoxin positive in 3 stool and 6 food samples of 18

What people believe that the data does not support

• In US law vermicelli is not a bean noodle at all: it is a wheat macaroni product in cord shape no thicker than 0.06 inch, and no regulator has approved any health claim for it. — US standard of identity for macaroni products, 21 CFR 139.110(d) Evidence E source
  Legal definition ties the name to a cord-shaped macaroni product under 0.06 inch in diameter; zero entries for vermicelli in the 21 CFR 101 health claim layer and zero in the EU register snapshot of 2026-09-21

Who this works differently for

• Two British supermarket rice vermicelli products, from Guilin and Jiangxi, fell into the low glycemic index group in a randomized crossover trial in 14 adults. — 14 healthy adults in Great Britain, 6 men and 8 women, mean age 38, single portions of each test food containing 50 g available carbohydrate against a glucose standard (n = 14) Evidence B source
  Rice noodles classed as low GI alongside long-grain and white basmati rice, within an overall range of 37 to 92 across the 10 foods
• In a Malaysian boarding school outbreak that hit a quarter of 597 girls, vermicelli was one of four canteen dishes linked to illness, with 17 times the odds. — 597 female students aged 13 to 17 in a boarding school in Negeri Sembilan, November 2021, 152 cases and 200 controls in an unmatched case-control analysis (n = 152 cases among 597 students) Evidence C source
  Attack rate 25.5 percent; vermicelli OR 17.02 (95% CI 4.03 to 71.86), beef rendang OR 20.54, rice OR 19.62, rice cubes OR 18.17; Bacillus cereus the likely agent

What is still unknown

• No cooking retention factor exists for vermicelli in the US reference table, so how much of its copper, selenium or zinc survives boiling is simply unknown. — USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6, searched for vermicelli Evidence E source
  Zero methods returned; the product is not in the table under any of its 13 food groups, and selenium is absent from Release 6 entirely

The bottom line

The single USDA record, soy vermicelli, carries 1.916 mg of copper per 3.5 oz (100 g), which is 213 percent of the Daily Value, plus 27 microgram of selenium and 4.24 mg of zinc. Those numbers are per 3.5 oz (100 g) of dry noodle, no UK entry exists to check them against, and there are no Foundation samples, so the figure comes with no range around it. US survey coding puts both a cup and an unstated quantity at 140 g, meaning the coders do not distinguish a typical portion and 140 g is not a measurement of what anyone ate. No cooking retention factor exists for vermicelli in the US reference table under any of its food groups, so how much of that copper, selenium or zinc survives boiling is unknown rather than unaffected. What the cooking evidence does show is that the dish decides more than the noodle does. Among 15 adults in Hong Kong tested on 23 traditional foods, fried rice vermicelli Singapore style landed among the six low glycemic index foods while a plain steamed vermicelli roll landed among the seven high ones. The fried version carries fat that slows stomach emptying and the roll is made from rice batter, so two dishes are being compared, and the abstract gives categories without a number for either. Two British supermarket rice vermicelli products, from Guilin and Jiangxi, came out low glycemic index in 14 adults in Great Britain, inside a range of 37 to 92 across ten rice foods, again with no separate number for either product. The caution on this page is about handling rather than about the noodle. At a village banquet in Sichuan in August 2009, pork mixed with vermicelli carried 12 times the odds of illness (95% CI 4.4 to 32) in an analysis of 50 cases and 50 controls, with a dose-response trend, and Salmonella blegdam was isolated from that dish. Another dish at the same banquet ran at odds of 7.4 and the authors saw interaction between the two, so the vermicelli may have been the carrier and not the source. In a Hangzhou outbreak in 2014 the median incubation was three hours and staphylococcal enterotoxin turned up in six food and three stool samples out of 18 tested, and that toxin is heat stable, so reheating the noodles does not remove it. In a Malaysian boarding school in November 2021, a quarter of 597 girls aged 13 to 17 fell ill, and vermicelli was one of four canteen dishes linked to it at 17 times the odds (95% CI 4.03 to 71.86). Beef rendang, rice and rice cubes had overlapping intervals, the study cannot separate them, and the investigators named cross-contamination and storage temperature as the cause. Cold noodles mixed with meat and left standing are the pattern in all three outbreaks. No regulator has approved a health claim for vermicelli, in the EU register or in 21 CFR 101. We found no study on allergy, pregnancy, children or drug interactions for it, and no composition data at all for the wheat vermicelli that US law says the word means.

Sources

1. vrmc-daily-r3-01 · food composition dataset audit
   [1] USDA COMPOSITION · records 1 · reference Vermicelli, made from soy (FDC 169884, sr_legacy, Legumes and Legume Products)
   USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy, FDC 169884, and USDA FNDDS 41425010 · checked 2026-09-25
2. vrmc-daily-r3-02 · food composition dataset
   copper 1.916 mg 213% DV
   USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy, FDC 169884 · checked 2026-09-25
3. vrmc-daily-r3-03 · dietary survey portion dataset
   1 cup · 10205 140
   USDA FNDDS, food code 41425010, FDC 2707450 · checked 2026-09-25
4. vrmc-daily-r3-05 · randomized crossover trial
   Ten healthy subjects aged between 20-30 years were recruited. ... Among the five starchy foods, brown rice evoked the highest GI and GL at 82 ± 0.2 and 18 ± 0.2, followed by taro (69 ± 0.4, 12 ± 0.2), adlay (55 ± 0.4, 10 ± 0.2), yam (52 ± 0.3, 9 ± 0.0) and mung bean noodles (28 ± 0.5, 7 ± 0.2), respectively.
   World J Gastroenterol, 2010 · checked 2026-09-25
5. vrmc-daily-r3-06 · randomized controlled trial
   Eighteen healthy subjects randomly assigned received three different starches under one form of conditioning. ... However, cooked mung bean noodles gave metabolic responses similar to those of raw products. Close correlations were found between percentages of in vitro starch hydrolysis at 30 min and mean areas under the glycemic curves and the insulinemic curves (r = 0.95, p less than 0.001).
   Am J Clin Nutr, 1989 · checked 2026-09-25
6. vrmc-daily-r3-07 · randomized crossover trial
   Fifteen healthy subjects (8 males and 7 females) volunteered to consume either glucose or one of 23 test foods after 10-14 h overnight fast. ... Among all the 23 Chinese traditional foods tested, 6 of them belonged to low GI foods (Tuna Fish Bun, Egg Tart, Green Bean Dessert, Chinese Herbal Jelly, Fried Rice Vermicelli in Singapore-style, and Spring Roll), 10 of them belonged to moderate GI foods (Baked Barbecued Pork Puff, Fried Fritter, "Mai-Lai" Cake, "Pineapple" Bun, Fried Rice Noodles with Sliced Beef, Barbecue Pork Bun, Moon Cakes, Glutinous Rice Ball, Instant Sweet Milky Bun, and Salted Meat Rice Dumpling), the others belonged to high GI foods (Fried Rice in Yangzhou-Style, Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf, Steamed Glutinous Rice Roll, Jam and Peanut Butter Toast, Plain Steamed Vermicelli Roll, Red Bean Dessert, and Frozen Sweet Milky Bun).
   World J Gastroenterol, 2010 · checked 2026-09-25
7. vrmc-daily-r3-09 · outbreak case-control study
   86.0% (43/50) of the cases and 34.0% (17/50) of the controls had eaten pork-mixed-vermicelli(OR = 12.0, 95%CI: 4.4 - 32). ... Three cases were detected carrying Salmonella blegdam from their anus swabs and the same bacteria type was also detected in the pork-mixed-vermicelli.
   Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi, 2011 · checked 2026-09-25
8. vrmc-daily-r3-11 · outbreak investigation
   The incubation period was 1.5-5.0 hours, of which the median was 3 during the outbreak. ... Conclusion: This foodborne outbreak was caused through food poisoning by vermicelli which was contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus.
   Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi, 2017 · checked 2026-09-25
9. vrmc-daily-r3-12 · standard of identity
   Vermicelli is the macaroni product the units of which are cord-shaped (not tubular) and not more than 0.06 inch in diameter.
   21 CFR 139.110, Macaroni products · checked 2026-09-25
10. vrmc-daily-r3-08 · randomized crossover trial
    The glycaemic response to nine types of rice (white basmati, brown basmati, white and brown basmati, easy-cook basmati, basmati and wild rice, long-grain rice, easy-cook long-grain rice, Thai red rice, Thai glutinous rice) and two types of rice vermicelli (Guilin rice vermicelli, Jiangxi rice vermicelli) commercially available in the United Kingdom were compared against a glucose standard in a non-blind, randomized, repeated-measure, crossover design trial. ... The study indicated that rice noodles, long-grain rice, easy-cook long-grain rice and white basmati rice were low-GI foods, whilst all of the other foods were medium-GI and high-GI foods.
    Int J Food Sci Nutr, 2009 · checked 2026-09-25
11. vrmc-daily-r3-10 · outbreak case-control study
    A total of 152 cases were identified among the 597 students, giving an attack rate of 25.5%. All cases were females aged 13-17 years. ... The foods associated with becoming a case were beef rendang (a dry curry) (odds ratio [OR]: 20.54, 95% CI: 4.89-86.30), rice (OR: 19.62, 95% CI: 2.62-147.01), rice cubes (OR: 18.17, 95% CI: 4.31-76.55) and vermicelli (OR: 17.02, 95% CI: 4.03-71.86).
    Western Pac Surveill Response J, 2023 · checked 2026-09-25
12. vrmc-daily-r3-04 · retention factor table audit
    «vermicelli»: no method, and not even FDC knows such a product.
    USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6 (2007) · checked 2026-09-25