Grain processing should not over-pursue refined whiteness

"According to statistics from the China National Grains Industry Association, about 20% of wheat and paddy rice is processed into refined flour and refined rice each year, and over-processing causes about 15 billion jin of grain loss." At the Grain Science and Technology Activity Week held not long ago by the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, the waste caused by grain processing drew considerable attention.

At present, China's grain processing pursues "refined whiteness" too excessively, and the low finished-product rate, low edible rate, low utilization rate and low efficiency of grain processing have become several major constraints holding back development.

A reflection on one figure: achieving high-quality grain supply is imperative

15 billion jin - this figure reflects a problem in China's grain processing industry that cannot be ignored.

"Consumer demand for whole-grain foods is growing day by day, yet at present, China's grain over-processing pursues too much the 'refined whiteness' of products and good appearance and taste, causing massive grain loss." Wang Ruiyuan, chief expert of the Chinese Cereals and Oils Association, pointed out that some processing enterprises, in pursuit of bright white flour color, have reduced the wheat flour extraction rate to below 70%, and processing enterprises generally pursue the whiteness and brightness of rice, with the rice extraction rate at only 60%, and at its lowest just 50%.

Chen Zhengxing, China's first doctor of grain engineering and a professor at the School of Food Science and Technology of Jiangnan University, has conducted in-depth research on deep and fine grain processing. He pointed out that grain processing's one-sided pursuit of overly refined, overly fine and overly white finished products causes a large loss of nutrients, a lower product yield and a substantial increase in energy consumption, and that measures must be taken as soon as possible to achieve effective supply of high-quality grain in China.

On one hand is the extensive and wasteful nature of grain processing; on the other hand is the insufficient scientific and technological content of grain processing.

In the view of Tan Bin, a researcher at the Academy of National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, China's grain resources are used extensively, products and their uses are single, and the comprehensive utilization level of grain processing by-products is still at an initial stage.

Another set of data can serve as evidence for this view: according to statistics, China uses about 46.5 million tons of grain for deep processing each year, still accounting for less than 10% of grain output, while in developed countries grain used for deep processing accounts for more than 70%; grain used for industrialized food manufacturing is about 9.3 million tons, accounting for only about 1.85% of grain output.

Therefore, experts call for thoroughly changing the current pattern of "strong rice, weak rice products" and "strong wheat, weak flour products," and achieving multiple transformations and value increases of grain resources by extending the product chain, value chain and industry chain vertically and horizontally.

Behind a single grain of rice: many difficulties in grain processing remain to be solved

When talking about the problems in China's grain processing industry, Chen Zhengxing did not hold back. At Grain Science and Technology Week, he brought a new technology to improve the edible rate of rice and the value-added rate of processing.

"Don't look at this tiny grain of rice - the knowledge behind it is enormous." In front of a processing machine, Chen Zhengxing grabbed a handful of rice and told reporters that the by-product of rice processing is called broken rice; using broken rice to produce starch sugar generates the by-product rice residue. Previously, rice residue was used as a raw material for the feed industry and was worth only several thousand yuan per ton. Through this technology, the food-grade rice residue protein extracted can be worth five times more.

However, not every grain of rice can have such "luck." Deep processing of broken rice is a successful case of deep processing and efficient conversion, but overall, China's grain processing industry has a low utilization rate of resources and low added value.

The field of corn deep processing faces the same crux. Yue Guojun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, introduced that China currently has fewer than 1,000 corn processing products, while the United States already has about 3,500 corn processing products. In China, high value-added corn products are still in an early stage of growth, with great room for growth.

"Improving the deep-processing utilization rate of grain has become an important part of the national grain strategy." Chen Zhengxing pointed out, however, that at present China's grain processing has a low finished-product rate, low edible rate, low utilization rate and low efficiency, and the grain processing industry chain is short. The reason is that deep-processing and conversion technologies for grain are backward.

Experts pointed out that as China's agricultural development enters a new stage, developing deep-processing technologies with high resource utilization, low energy consumption and little environmental pollution, adjusting the product structure, and increasing the economic benefits of the entire agricultural industry chain have become major strategic needs for China's national economy and social development.

Innovation on one path: letting the traditional grain processing industry soar

Wang Ruiyuan pointed out that around the hot issues in grain science and technology and processing, it is necessary to seize the high ground in the grain processing industry through innovation-driven development.

"Taking rice as an example, although the processing level of the main products of the rice industry is already quite high, there are many roughly processed products and few deep-processed products, which is one of the main reasons for the 'strong rice, weak rice products' situation." Chen Zhengxing said that about 54 million tons of rice husks are produced each year, most of which are handled by simple burning. You should know that by adopting high and new technologies, rice can be transformed into high value-added products needed by many industries such as food, health care, medicine and chemicals, in multiple varieties, specialized and serialized forms.

He suggested adhering to the priority strategy of quality and safety, achieving major improvements in the capacity for major key generic technological innovation through integrated tackling of key problems, and breaking through a batch of bottleneck problems in clean processing technologies and equipment for grain harm reduction without secondary pollution, so as to provide technical support for the safe, value-added utilization of grain and the scientific development of the grain processing industry.