Appropriate Technology: UltraRice ®
Billions of people worldwide depend on rice as a major portion of their diets. Unfortunately, many of these people suffer from a serious lack of nutrition, including iron deficiency and insufficient folic acid, which causes thousands of preventable birth defects, illnesses and deaths each year.
Seattle-based PATH (http://www.path.org/index.php) has created a solution for people who depend on rice – and it doesn’t require them to learn a new technology or change their diet or cooking habits.
UltraRice ® (http://www.path.org/projects/ultra_rice.php) looks just like natural milled rice grains, but each tiny grain packs a nutrient-laden punch. The grains are made from rice flour, vitamins and minerals and “nutrient-protecting ingredients.” PATH reports that once added in about a 1 to 100 grain ratio to milled rice, UltraRice ® looks, smells and tastes almost exactly like unfortified rice.
PATH currently has agreements with rice producers in Colombia and Brazil and is in talks with government agencies in China and India – two of the world’s largest rice consumers.
The price of bringing UltraRice ® to needy countries around the world varies depending upon location, but PATH says it’s committed to seeing global nutrition improve thanks to its efforts – no matter what the monetary cost may be.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Appropriate Tech Series