Published on January 20, 2006

That plate of steaming rice on your table will soon be more than it seems. Through innovative methods, rice paddies have been turned into a source of medicinal supplements for those who care about their health.

To enable Thailand to retain its place as one of the world’s biggest rice producers while significantly increasing its competitiveness in the world market, government bodies, companies and academics have been working on several projects to create new value-added components for rice, the country’s major export product.

These projects include O-rice, a new brand of brown rice that, through the use of technology, is far more nutritious than white rice or even other forms of brown rice; new instant fast-cooking rice; rice wrappers; and production of Udong noodles, which uses rice as an ingredient.

All projects have been partly funded by the Science and Technology Ministry’s National Innovation Agency, the agency responsible for promoting innovation. Products produced under the agency’s sponsorship are all aimed at the world’s rice-consuming market and are expected to return about Bt900 million in revenue to the country.

“O-rice gives new meaning to consuming rice. With this, rice is no longer just a food, but rather a medicine that is good for your health,” said Ninlawan Pichayayothin, vice president of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).

O-rice was developed jointly by FTI, the Phetchabun provincial government, Kasetsart University and Phetchabun Innovation Co Ltd, the last of which was recently established especially for the commercial production and marketing of O-rice.

Jaturaporn Pornsilapatip, a consultant for Phetchabun Innovation, said that research and development by Kasetsart University had led to the production of O-rice using technology called “orisination”, which enabled the brown rice to retain its nutritional value for up to two years.

Through orisination, husked rice is steeped in warm water for a certain amount of time, in order to enable carbohydrate molecules in the grains to spread completely before being steamed, forcing all of the nutrients to remain inside the granules. In this way, the rice germ or embryo that contains all of the vitamins can be maintained completely, even through the polishing process.

Apart from allowing the brown rice to retain as much of its nutritional value as possible, the technology also helps eliminate the unpleasant odour that often emanates from brown rice. It does this by blocking lipase, an enzyme that catalyses the breakdown of fats into individual fatty acids, and lipoxygenase, an enzyme that creates the unsaturated fatty acids that produce the odour.

Jaturaporn said Kasetsart’s research showed that O-rice had 10 times the nutritional value of milled rice while rich in vitamins B1 and B6 and containing triple the amount of magnesium of white rice.

Vitamin B1 helps nerve cells function normally, while vitamin B6 plays a role in maintaining health and vitality and keeping blood glucose within a normal range.

Jaturaporn said O-rice was sold in 150-gram packages. Priced at Bt50 per package, O-rice sets a new price standard for rice, since it raises the value from Bt15 to Bt20 per kilogram up to Bt300.

Apart from O-Rice, other innovative rice-based products have been introduced to the market, such as instant fast-cooking rice.

Asian Superior Foods Co, a subsidiary of Thai Better Foods and a leading manufacturer and exporter of vermicelli, has successfully developed instant rice that can be cooked in three minutes in a microwave oven or five minutes in boiled water. The product aims to beat Chinese noodles in worldwide markets.

Watanakul Mungkalarungsi, assistant managing director of Asian Superior Foods, said the product’s added value lay in its faster cooking time. All of the product will be exported, with targeted markets including the United States and South America.

The company also produces a new type of Udong noodle that is made with white-rice flour mixed with wheat flour. Udong noodles have normally been made wholly from imported wheat flour, but now it is possible for the company to use 30-per-cent rice flour, reducing production costs.

suchalee@nationgroup.com

Suchalee Pongprasert

The Nation

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