Aside from its most common food use as food in the main diet, the milled rice is also used for a variety of purposes which means value-adding for this commodity.
The chemistry division of PhilRice has come out with products developed from brown rice and milled rice. After developing the appropriate technology for producing the products, the institute conducted trainings for interested persons who may want to adopt the technology for use in their own respective families or for a business enterprise.
One such product is the rice coffee. A woman-entrepreneur from Maligaya, Science City of Muñoz studied the technology and has since put up a thriving business of her own. She is now supplying the market with her rice coffee, 3-in-1 rice coffee, and rice coffee with carabao milk and peanut. She is also producing other rice-based products like candies.
Other entrepreneurs are now into production of rice chiffon cake which combines the richness of a layer cake with the spongy feel of an angel food cake, cream puff which is light cabbage-light pastry with custard filling, pasta and noodles, puto, and rice puto pao which is commonly steamed rice cake with soft texture made more delicious by adding chicken asado filling or adobo, ham, and cheese fillings.
Some other entrepreneurs are producing rice brownies with 5 % powdered saluyot and 60 % squash, maligaya rice bar which is a modification of the pili bar that uses margarine and water instead of butter and coconut milk as hydrating medium, rice waffle, espasol with 5% powdered saluyot and 10% squash, and rice nougat which is a soft and chewy candy made from a combination of glutinous and plain flour that can be flavored with white and dark chocolate. They are selling these products in their localities.
They produce these products through the training they got from PhilRice. They use rice flour.
Other products developed included sprouted brown rice which is inspired by the toge or sprouted mungbean food, canned rice and canned rice meal.
Also developed by the institute is the “PhilRice Tapuy”, a white wine whose technology was adopted from the age-old tradition of rice wine-making in Northern Luzon and Mindanao and rice beer. Red wine from a special variety of pigmented rice will also appear soon in the market.
There are many other forms of food that are prepared using the milled rice. They include arroz caldo, champorado, paella which is a dish of cooked rice with seafoods, meat, vegetables, tomato sauce and puree and seasoning and others.
Residents of different localities in the Philippines have various kinds of food prepared out of the milled rice.
Rice wastage
Rice in raw form and cooked form sometimes go to waste in big amounts because of improper handling, preparations, and even in consumption. Milled rice grains go to waste because of poor handling and storage.
They sometimes fall on the ground or are destroyed by pests.
While being prepared for food, losses and wastages are also observed. In washing the milled rice as a step in preparation for cooking, some grains are lost when it is not properly done. This washing of the milled rice also causes the leaching out of some nutrients present in rice.
During cooking, if not properly done, the wastage can be in the form of under and over cooking.
Some cooked rice also sometimes goes to waste because of left-over in the plate during mealtime. Unattended children are commonly observed not very careful in their manner of eating rice and other food. They produce big wastage in rice and other food. The left-over is commonly given to animals or thrown in the garbage cans.
Big wastage of cooked rice is also observed during mealtimes in big gatherings. Wastage of cooked rice also happens in eateries where people are given rice servings which they cannot consume.
A study conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) indicated that an average of 16 grams of rice and products are wasted per person per day. The estimated total weight of rice lost each day when the study was conducted in 2003 was 1,280 metric tons in a population of 80 million. When computed with an average prevailing retail price at P17.97 per kilogram, the amount reached a total of P23 million.
In present day, when the population is more than 90 million and the price of milled rice is higher, the total losses in pesos can be more than P35 million.
Saving rice means saving lives
There is no doubt that rice will continue to be the staple food of Filipinos. As population increases, more rice will be needed for food at mealtime.
There is also a big reason for the increasing demand for rice. It is the increasing per capita or per person consumption of rice. In 1990, the per capital consumption was 92.53 kilograms. This increased to 103.16 kg in 2000, 108.03 kg in 2002, 116.09 kg in 2004, and 118.80 kg in 2005. This increase in consumption per person resulted in big increase in the volume of rice needed for food.
In the Philippines, the production of rough rice is not always enough to supply the needs of the growing population. This is because the land area for production is not very big compared to other Asian countries which are producing rice more than what they need. The rice yield in the country is not yet the ideal yield needed.
Rice importation is resorted to in order to fill the rice supply requirement in the country.
But the situation in the country in so far as increasing rice production is not yet hopeless. There are now good technologies for increasing production and the government is providing the support services.
Considering that rice is an essential food, it is necessary for everybody to participate in activities that will help ensure that this important food will not go to waste. It must be understood that the absence of this food will result to widespread hunger.
In the long run, hunger may result to sickness and eventually death.
Saving rice will mean saving lives.
