Everything you need to know about fortified rice

Talking Nutrition Editors

As one of the world’s most widely consumed foods, rice plays a significant role in many diets around the globe. In low income countries, it can make up to 70% of an individual’s calorie intake.² Though it is a great source of energy, it is a poor source of micronutrients and has a low overall nutritional value beyond carbohydrates and protein. This is because the milling process that produces white rice removes the fat, as well as the more nutrient-rich bran layers. Parboiled rice, brown rice and bio-fortified rice (for example high-zinc rice) are more nutritious compared to white rice in one or a few essential micronutrients. This is due to different paddy processing or utilizing more nutritious rice varieties. In this article the focus will be on post-harvest rice fortification – the addition of several essential vitamins, minerals and potentially other nutrients to make any rice variety more nutritious post-harvest and after paddy processing.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are also an issue outside of low-income countries, affecting most regions worldwide at varying levels. While malnutrition is often associated with those not consuming enough calories, the lack of essential vitamins and minerals in ample or high calorie diets is a prominent issue, known as ‘hidden hunger’.

The popularity of rice presents an opportunity to fill the nutrient gap in rice-eating populations worldwide by increasing the nutritional value of rice. A wide variety of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients such as amino acids and fibers can be added post-harvest to effectively address malnutrition and contribute to Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2).

A growing number of countries have mandated rice fortification and are fortifying rice distributed through social safety nets (for example school feeding), or have set voluntary rice fortification standards to address hidden hunger.

Selecting an appropriate technology and fortificant forms to fortify rice post-harvest is crucial to successfully improve micronutrient health. In countries where rice is frequently washed, soaked or cooked in excess water, dusting will not be effective, and a coating technology needs to be rinse resistant to be effective. To have a positive health impact, fortified rice needs to have good:

• Stability during transport and storage
• Retention during cooking & preparation
• Consumer acceptability
• Absorption by the body of the used micronutrients

Hot extrusion is supported by a robust evidence base and shows excellent consumer acceptability. The fortified rice looks, cooks and tastes the same as non-fortified rice.

Rice fortification terminology (post-harvest)

The overarching purpose of fortified rice is to meet nutritional goals for the end consumer, but in order for nutritional programs to reach their full benefit, fortification programs need to meet certain requirements in order to be effective.

• Ease of use – this is one of the biggest benefits. As a widely used staple food, it is simple to replace standard rice with fortified rice to boost the nutritional profile of a simple diet. With certain methods of fortification, consumer usage is key in effectiveness. However, advances in fortification technologies, such as the use of hot extrusion, also ensure the added high-quality micronutrients remain stable without requiring a behavior change or further education for the end consumer.
• Cost - the specific costs of fortified rice depend on several factors, such as the scale of the operation and the blending ratio of fortified to non-fortified kernels - most commonly 0.5-2%. However, rice fortification costs are small compared to the wide-reaching benefits. The cost impact is around 0.5-3%, yet such strategies can help tackle malnutrition at both a population and personal level.
• Consistency for consumers - it looks, cooks, and tastes the same as non-fortified rice. This is great for individuals in low income countries, where awareness and education on both nutrition and usage of fortified rice may be lacking.
• Market differentiation for brands – fortified rice can also be customized for specific needs. It presents a solution for health-conscious consumers looking for new ways to reach specific health benefits.
• Reducing micronutrient deficiencies for governments and schools - for governments, mandatory rice fortification can support a country to significantly reduce micronutrient deficiencies (MNDs), though this does rely heavily on successful and wide-reaching implementation and is very challenging when the rice milling landscape is highly fragmented. There’s also the opportunity to build fortified rice into school feeding programs and government social safety nets, offering the same benefits on a smaller scale, but targeting vulnerable populations at high risk of deficiencies.