Rice producer interested in DOST brown rice tech

MANILA, Philippines - Leading hybrid rice producer and distributor SL Agritech is interested in the breakthrough process developed by the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) to prolong the shelf life of brown rice.

However, Frisco Malabanan, senior consultant and seed technologist of SL Agritech, told DOST-FNRI senior science research specialist Rosemarie Garcia in a technology enterprise forum recently, that further study should be conducted especially on the effectiveness of the improved process for drying and steaming brown rice on other varieties, particularly on SL Agritech’s hybrid variety.

Malabanan said the study should include the planting and harvesting time of other rice varieties, including the hybrid variety, in determining the effectiveness of the drying and steaming process in processing brown rice.

“The shelf life of rice, whether it is milled rice or brown rice, is affected by planting time, harvesting time,” Malabanan told The STAR in an interview.

Malabanan said that if the improved technique for processing palay to brown rice developed by DOST-FNRI was effective with their hybrid variety, they could adopt the technology.

Malabanan said their Doña Maria brown rice enjoys high demand, and is sold out just from local demand.

“We are running out of supply,” he said.

SL Agritech grows rice and hybrid rice seeds in Laguna, Nueva Ecija and Mindoro. It has also expanded its presence to Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh.

Garcia, a senior science research specialist of the DOST-FNRI, led a research project on the processing of brown rice using drying and steaming techniques to lengthen its shelf life.

Aside from prolonging the shelf life of brown rice, Garcia said it also brought a welcome additional benefit — an improved texture due to the reduced hard or roughness of the dehulled palay grain.

“We also improved the texture. Somehow, because of the heating and steaming combination, it affected the texture, the hardness was reduced, making it softer,” Garcia said.

The DOST-FNRI embarked on the “optimization” project on the process for brown rice or unmilled or unpolished rice to improve its shelf life, which only reached a maximum of four months, discouraging consumers from patronizing it.