By Chef Nancy Berkoff, RD, EdD
A little rice enrichment fact-let: when rice is polished, most of the nutrients are removed. In the 1800’s many people who immigrated to the US were accustomed to eating unpolished rice as a staple food. Unfortunately, only white rice was popularly for sale in the US. There began to be many Vitamin B-deficiency diseases seen in the immigrant population, as they had previously obtained their Vitamin Bs from unpolished, “whole grain” rice. The US government mandated that all polished rice be fortified with the nutrients that had been removed. This was accomplished by saving the rice “shells,” crushing them into a powder, mixing the powder with water and spraying the mixture back onto the rice. The rice was allowed to dry, and the nutrients were partially restored. Public health campaigns were launched, to instruct people not to wash the “fortified rice,” as washing the rice removed the nutrient powder.