Bulk of the stabilized bran is being exported to Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, though some is used in rice-based food products manufactured in the United States.

The Western Regional Research Center continues to work with the mills and stabilizer manufacturers to monitor oil content and stability of the bran and with several major food producers to develop food uses for stabilized bran and defatted bran.

Laboratory animals are being used to study the nutritional quality of a high protein byproduct from rice syrup production. This byproduct has potential use as an infant food.

Vaccum-packed rice sample evaluations suggest that freshness of rice in supermarkets would be enhanced using this technology.

Various aspects of the rice bran oil industry have been explored. These include aspects of oil extraction and refining, uses and marketing of defatted bran, and production and marketing of products derived from rice bran. Potential products include refined rice bran oil, fatty acids for paints, inositol for pharmaceuticals and health foods, oryzanol for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and phytic acid and calcium magnesium phytates for foods, paints and cosmetics.

A study to test the effects of high pressure steam on bran stabilization and increased head rice yields for brown rice showed that 20 to 30 second exposures to the steam destroyed lipase activity, stabilizing the bran, and improved head rice yield.

A second series of experiments varying steam pressures and times were not conclusive, and work to optimize the process continues.

 

Rice Bran Finds New Uses When the bottom dropped out of the heavily export-dependent rice market several years ago, domestic producers were forced to look at new products. Rice bran, a milling byproduct, had been used only for feed but gained new respect when researchers at the USDA's Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif., developed a procedure for stabilizing it. Finding new uses for rice bran is the focus of USDA food quality researcher Robin M. Saunders. Two California mills - Farmers Rice Cooperative and Comet Rice - have since adapted the process, and the bran is now finding its way into breakfast cereals and extruded snack foods. Project leader Robin Saunders believes the industry may have another big opportunity at hand. The bulk of the stabilized bran (about 3,000 tons annually) is being exported to Japan, Taiwan and Korea. They, in turn, process rice oil from the bran. "Ultimately we hope we can convince the industry to extract oil and sell defatted bran for feed," he said. "1 think we could get a superior price for the oil here than what we sell the bran for abroad" Saunders, who has been working with rice for USDA since 1966, said the project team is investigating a variety of bran-based products. The objective of their research is to develop new products for both domestic and foreign markets. WRRC staff work directly with mills and stabilizer manufacturers to monitor oil content and the stability of final products.