Is rice at 40 yuan per jin really worth it?

"Eco rice," "organic rice," "selenium-enriched rice," "seafood rice," "bamboo nutrient rice," "maifan stone rice"... At an agricultural products expo recently held in Guangdong, a reporter saw in the rice exhibition area that the rice on display was marketed under a bewildering array of "concepts."

These "concept rices," despite their wide variety, share one thing in common: once they are slapped with a loud label claiming "health benefits," their price soars, selling for far more than ordinary rice. One box of "selenium-enriched rice," for instance, weighed six jin and sold for 198 yuan, which works out to 33 yuan per jin.

Several experts told a Yangcheng Evening News reporter that "concept rice" is mostly a marketing gimmick. Merely claiming on paper to "contain" trace elements is of little reference value, and it is hard to say whether those trace elements actually have health benefits for different groups of people. "There is no need to spend money foolishly."

A Bewildering Array of "Concept Rices"

An agricultural products expo was recently held in Guangdong, with rice as one of the main exhibits. At one booth, a beautifully made roll-up banner about the height of an adult stood on the outer side, and visitors kept stopping to read it. The reporter was drawn to it too; it was mainly promoting a kind of "selenium-enriched rice."

The promotional page said: "Selenium plays multiple functions in the human body, including: antioxidant and anti-aging; detoxification, toxin removal, and anti-pollution; protecting the liver and hematopoietic cells, preventing cell aging, and reducing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases; preventing cancerous changes and boosting immunity." The "selenium-enriched rice" they grow, it claimed, is natural, "healthy and nutritious."

At another booth, the reporter saw a kind of "bamboo nutrient rice," which claimed to "extract large amounts of active functional factors from organic, fresh bamboo leaves grown at high altitude, and combine them with organic rice through active permeation," and to be "rich in nearly 60 active functional factors such as bamboo leaf polysaccharides, bamboo leaf flavonoids, and bamboo leaf polypeptides," making it an "excellent dietary product."

There was also a "seafood rice," said to be "low in starch and high in protein, rich in various amino acids, vitamins, and trace elements needed by the human body... an ideal choice for diabetics, the elderly, pregnant women, and infants." As for why it is called "seafood rice," it is because it is fertilized with "seafood fertilizer," that is, fertilizer "developed using natural fish and shrimp seafood as raw materials."

Besides these, the reporter also saw at the venue many kinds of rice with different "concepts," such as "eco rice," "organic rice," "natural green rice," "taiji health-preserving rice," and "volcanic stone slab rice," a dazzling and bewildering array. According to the organizers, more than a hundred rice "types" were exhibited that day. Most of them played up "health" and "nutrition" concepts.

Riding on "Health Benefits," Prices Double and Redouble

When the reporter typed "health rice" into a shopping website, the products that popped up were even more varied, with the most common being "health" rices marketed under all kinds of nutritional banners, including "high-calcium selenium-enriched rice," "maifan stone rice," "apple rice," "low-protein rice," and "bamboo nutrient rice," all emphasizing that their nutritional elements are several times higher than those of ordinary rice.

Although "health rice" comes in many varieties, it shares one common trait: it sells for far more than ordinary rice! In front of the above-mentioned "selenium-enriched rice" booth, when the reporter asked about the price, the other party said, "One pack is 1.5 kg, two packs are placed together in a gift box, and the total is 198 yuan." After doing the conversion, the reporter found that this rice actually cost as much as 33 yuan per jin.

Hearing this price, the reporter looked a little surprised. The staff member smiled and said, "This unit price is indeed a bit high." The reporter pressed further: "Does this sell well?" The other party said, "So-so. Usually almost no one buys it; only around the New Year and festivals do a few more people buy it, mainly for gifts. Relatively few people use it themselves. Our planting area and output are both not high either."

A few years ago, a kind of "health rice" claimed to contain a substance called CEB, a cellular nutrient beneficial to human body functions, and when it hit the market, 4 kg sold for as much as 199 yuan, which public opinion called an "astronomical price." Now there is no highest, only higher. The above-mentioned "seafood rice" costs even more per jin, reaching nearly 40 yuan.

Experts: "Concept Rice" Is Mostly a Marketing Gimmick

Experts analyzed that "concept rice" boils down to three types: first, increasing or reducing the content of a certain nutrient, such as selenium-enriched rice, high-calcium rice, and low-protein rice; second, "grafting" onto it the nutritional value of other foods, such as bamboo nutrient rice and maifan stone rice; third, modifying the color or taste of rice to cater to consumers' taste and visual preferences, such as apple rice and banana rice.

Yun Wuxin, a PhD in food engineering from Purdue University in the United States, told a Yangcheng Evening News reporter that "concept rice" should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. Bamboo nutrient rice and maifan stone rice are marketing gimmicks, while "selenium-enriched" rice has a national standard and can help supplement selenium. "It is meaningful for selenium-deficient areas, but meaningless for areas that are not selenium-deficient."

Zhu Yi, an associate professor at the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University, believes that the "selenium-enriched rice" sold on the market is not necessarily good. "Never mind whether its claimed effects are real; supplementing nutrition is not a case of the more the better. Excessive intake of a certain element is actually not necessarily good for the body." Some studies have also proven that in high-selenium areas, livestock have been found to suffer poisoning from excessive selenium intake, leading to stunted growth, hair loss, and even death in severe cases. In addition, Zhu Yi also said that nutritious rice is mostly a marketing gimmick, that there is no need to spend money foolishly, and that when buying rice, just buy whatever flavor you like.

Jiang Zhuoqin, a professor at the School of Public Health at Sun Yat-sen University, stressed that as long as "concept rice" has not applied to be a health food, it cannot advertise itself as having health benefits and can only be sold as ordinary rice. "Whether these rices have health benefits depends on indicators such as their element content. Merely saying on paper that they 'contain' something has no reference value. It is hard to say what group of people they have health benefits for. Most importantly, they still have to go through approval."