‘Potato-turned Rice’ is Undergoing Initial Production and Sales Tests in Southwest China
The first production and marketing trials of ‘potato-turned rice,’ a rice-shaped starch product created from potatoes using a novel processing technique, are being conducted in Yunnan Province in southwest China.
The production line began operating in November and has been operating efficiently for around a month, according to Xinhua. The novel product could help China achieve food security by making potatoes, which have a short shelf life but high yields and widespread adaptability, a popular staple food.
Finalizing a Five-year Project
The most recent accomplishment of Wu Qi, a polymer physical chemist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the production line at Qiaojia County, in the city of Zhaotong, Yunnan Province. After more than five years of study and development, he and his research team constructed the plant and put it into service.
To make tuber crops a staple meal in China and introduce processing technology to the market, the team concentrated on the extrusion recombination technology of plant polysaccharides and protein composite systems.
Starch, which is made up of lengthy chains of linked sugar molecules, is the primary material that plants employ to store energy. There are two main types of starch macromolecule chains: branched amylopectin and linear amylose.
Making a Product Less Soft and More Palatable to Consumers
The processing technology reshapes the starch chain by altering the physical characteristics of potato starch macromolecules. It combines technologies for polymer extrusion and granulation, food macromolecule processing, and the theory of macromolecular physics.
Food texture differs because potato starch has a few more branched chains than rice starch, according to agronomist Deng Yong, director of a county agricultural service center. A food product that has a longer shelf life and is easier to store is produced by altering the arrangement of the potato starch chains. This makes the product less soft and more palatable to consumers.
There is no need to wash and soak the rice because the ‘potato-turned rice’ has been processed at high pressure and temperature. According to Yong, cited by Xinhua, it requires significantly less water and cooking time than rice and can be prepared in a standard electric rice cooker just like regular rice.
Early estimates indicate that 2.5 tonnes of potatoes may be converted into 1 tonne of potato-turned rice, increasing the output value by more than ten times, according to Li Yulin, general manager of the firm operating the production line.
The production line is expected to process about 2,500 tonnes of fresh potatoes per year, generating 1,000 tonnes of ‘potato-turned rice’, and achieving an output value of about 30m yuan, Yulin added.
The first batch of products has already been put on trial sales in the local market, and the feedback shows that middle-aged and elderly people are interested.
After the processing, the ‘potato-turned rice’ can be stored at low cost at room temperature for a long time without the need for ventilation, or temperature and humidity control. This is unlike fresh potatoes, which have a short storage life and high stocking cost.
