<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
> Charles I. Searcy wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> >    Can anyone tell me what the process is to vitamin enrich
> > rice?
 
I have spoken with 3 rice manufacturers and my understanding of the
problem is as follows:
 
Vitamin enriched rice has added vitamins as would be obvious.  The
problem is that they just don't sprinkle vitamin dust on the rice, they
must use a carrier to disperse the vitamins evenly.  This carrier is
typically grain based or corn based, but most (if not all) rice
manufacturer get their vitamin enrichment raw material from outside
suppliers, whom they do not require to specify primary ingredients in
most cases (there are exceptions).
 
The bottom line is that ANY vitamin enriched rice product may contain
gluten unless the manufacturer knows otherwise.
 
If anyone has information contrary to what I got, I would be glad to
hear it.
 
On the plus side, one manufacturer, Riceland Foods, Little Rock, AK, was
VERY cooperative re. researching their rice products for me.  I believe
they distribute their Riceland Rice products nationally.  I spoke with
Don McCaskill at 501-673-5333. He seemed very knowledgable and even said
that Riceland has participated in local Celiac meetings!!
 
Here is a summary of what he told me:
 
The safest bet for their products is their Natural Brown Rice.  There is
no vitamin enrichment.  He suggested to wash the rice if we want to be
ultra safe, since it is packaged on the same equipment that the other
rices are.
 
The next safest bet is any of their white vitamin enhanced rice
products.  Yes, they do have vitamin enrichment, but he said that they
know their suppliers VERY well, and they know that the carriers used in
the enrichment are all corn based.
 
He said that he felt confident that if that ever changed, the company
would feel morally obligated to point it out on the labeling.
 
How refreshing to talk with this company compared to the mega-huge
Kraft, that seemed put out to even spend 2 minutes on the phone with
me!  They were almost rude in their response and basically implied that
they are so large and have so many products and suppliers and change the
suppliers so often (I'm sure price based decision) that they will never
make a statement about any of their products or ingredients.  The woman
I spoke with was even reluctant to log a request for further
information.  She said it won't matter!
--
Steve Veach in Chicago, Illinois USA