Traditionally, rice
is eaten around the world as a basic starchy (carbohydrate) staple, perhaps
with the major exception of rice noodles in eastern Asia. However, there are
good reasons for doing more with rice than simply boiling it.
The first of these is
to add value to lower grades of rice. Local rice has historically been
unpopular in many
parts of Africa because of its quality — it is often perceived as
heterogeneous, impure and unclean compared with clean, white, uniform imported
rice, and consequently sold at lower prices on local markets.
One particular issue has been the
quality of milling, which often leaves local rice as a mixture of sizes of
broken grains. There are a few cultures that actually prefer broken grains —
notably Senegal (and even here, it is broken rice of uniform granulation that
is preferred) — but, for the most part, broken rice is considered inferior to
unbroken rice and therefore of lower value.
With many countries having
increased their rice production over a number of years, some markets have
experienced a glut of local ‘inferior’ rice, which has not met with universal
acceptance. Rather than let this rice go to waste, AfricaRice has in the past developed
(or sought out) recipes to make use of it, thereby adding value to it.
The simplest route was that followed
historically by those promoting other starchy staples such as potato: grind it
up to make flour. Rice flour (cheaper in many parts of the tropics than
imported wheat flour) can then be used as a substitute for wheat flour in
typical flour-based foods, such as bread and cakes.
Rice flour is a particularly good
substitute for wheat flour for those who are gluten-intolerant. It is also used
as a thickening agent in recipes that are refrigerated or frozen, since it
inhibits liquid separation.
“Over the past year or two, we
have decided that this is not enough!” declares AfricaRice grain-quality specialist
John Manful. “We are now looking at adding nutritional value to rice.” This is being
done via several routes with a range of partners.
AfricaRice has been working with
Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le
développement (CIRAD) to ‘re-engineer’ a rice-based steamed product, ablo,
using lower-grade rice grains. The re-engineering comprises standardizing processing
operations, recommending best practices and identifying local varieties best
suited for ablo production.
A raw white rice grain is
primarily carbohydrate (about 80%), water (c.12%) and protein (c.7%);
it is not rich in any macro- or micronutrients or vitamins. As such it does not
have a particularly balanced nutritional value.
“One approach is to incorporate
more nutritious food sources into rice flour,” says Manful, “such as grain legumes
for protein and fruits for minerals and vitamins. In particular, we have made
flour rich in minerals and vitamins from dried safou [a forest fruit of West
and Central Africa popular in Cameroon], which we have then mixed with rice
flour.”
The composite flour has been used
to make biscuits (cookies) and pastries in Cameroon and Nigeria, where the
field-tested products are ready for commercialization.
“Another approach is to fortify
rice directly with a range of minerals and vitamins,” says Manful. AfricaRice’s
partners in this venture are Louisiana State University (USA) and the WrightGroup (Crowley, LA, USA). The Wright Group has a history of rice fortification
dating back to 1894.
The technique that is being
trialed for Africa is a ‘rinse-resistant technology’: in excess of 80% of the
fortification coating remains on the rice grains during washing and cooking —
this resistance has been and continues to be verified by Louisiana State
University.
With the technology available,
the big question was whether the fortified rice would be acceptable to consumers.
“We blended fortified rice with ‘regular’ rice, and then made biscuits, boiled
rice and porridge [a rice version of oatmeal], which we presented to taste panels
in Benin and Ghana,” Manful explains.
Could they detect the
fortification? Would there be a negative reaction to it? “At very high levels
of fortification, some of the taste-testers could tell that the
fortified rice was different from ‘regular’ rice,” says Manful. “Remarkably,
however, they actually preferred the taste of the fortified rice!” Thus, a
potentially major hurdle was overcome: there was no adverse reaction from the
consumers to this fortification of rice.
“The beauty of this technique is
that, if we have a rice-eating population that has a diet deficient in some
mineral or vitamin, or combination of those, then we can make a specific
fortification formula with the deficient nutritional elements and coat their
rice with it,” says Manful. This will ensure that populations get exactly what
they need — no more, no less.
“There is an additional benefit
to this kind of nutritional fortification,” says Manful. “It is an additive; we
are not manipulating the genetics of the rice itself.” For whatever reason,
there is still strong opposition in many parts of the world to genetically
modified (GM) food, which limits the potential scope of advancements such as
‘Golden Rice’ (rice genetically fortified with vitamin A). “The anti-GM lobby
has no argument about the kind of fortification we are testing,” says Manful.
Moreover, the fortification
through coating can be applied to any rice. So a target community can continue
to eat its preferred varieties, rather than having to adopt new varieties to
meet its nutritional requirements.
AfricaRice is now working with
the Wright Group and Louisiana State University to see how the technology can
be adopted by private-sector small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa to
make it commercial.
The fortification of rice-based
products is particularly targeted at children and pregnant women, who are perhaps
the most nutritionally sensitive elements of any society. Louisiana State
University is leading the validation of the positive effects of consumption of
fortified rice on malnourished children.
AfricaRice is also targeting
digestive problems, particularly type 2 diabetes and gluten-related disorders.
Many readers may not be aware that these two disorders are increasing within
the populations of developing countries, just as they are in developed
countries.
AfricaRice is working with the
University of Milan to develop rice pastas. Who better to work with on pasta than
an Italian university? “We are testing 100% rice pasta,” explains Manful,
“which has advantages over both wheat pasta and boiled rice.”
Rice is gluten-free, which means
that it is a good starchy staple for those with gluten-related disorders. It
has also been shown that rice pasta is more slowly digested than boiled rice,
which aids in the management of type 2 diabetes. “We have developed many
rice-pasta products,” says Manful, “for which we are currently conducting consumer
tests.”
Parboiling (boiling or steaming
paddy prior to milling) is becoming increasingly popular as a means of improving
the quality and milling recovery of local rice in several parts of Africa. A
secondary effect of parboiling is that it slows the digestion rate of rice.
Having introduced improved
parboiling techniques to several countries in the region (most recently through
the rice sector development hubs), AfricaRice is now working with McGill
University (Canada), the University of Milan and partners from national agricultural research systems in Cameroon, Ghana
and Nigeria to improve the parboiling process to optimize the digestive rate of
rice for those with type 2 diabetes.
“All of this work is being carried out under the broader framework of the Africa-wide Rice Processing and Value Addition Task Force,” says Manful, “and validated technologies from the research are shared with all partners within the task force.”
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