Rice bran approved as poultry meat enhancer

NutraCea says that it hopes to reach new markets following the approval, and has filed a provisional patent for the rice brand, both in the US and worldwide.

The company claims it has significant cost and nutritional benefits and can be used in meat and poultry sausages that contain binders, nugget-shaped patties, meatballs, meatloaf and meat and poultry patties.

Brad Edson, NutraCea's President and CEO: "The USDA approval presents an important opportunity for NutraCea to begin to supply hundreds of new customers in the meat industry with stabilized rice bran. It should be a welcome event for meat industry customers, who will be able to capture cost savings and improve product yields."

The company stated that an independent study conducted at Iowa State University, overseen by Dr Gits Prabhu, demonstrated that SRB added to chicken nuggets and hot dogs yielded a host of benefits, ranging from cost savings to better nutrition. "We are enthusiastic about the results, which clearly demonstrate significant cost savings, increased yield, a healthier nutritional profile and minimal change in taste when NutraCea's SRB is added to chicken nuggets and hot dogs," said Prabhu, adding, "According to our research, incorporating SRB at 2% and 3.5% inclusion levels in chicken nuggets lowered production costs by $0.02 and $0.04 respectively per pound."

The Company said that, historically, rice bran has been fed to livestock, and adding it to meat during the processing phase is actually a more efficient and environmentally sound use of the product.