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posted by janrinok on Friday June 08 2018, @08:39PM   Printer-friendly
from the very-much-hyped dept.

Marion Nestle, PhD, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita reports via Food Politics

The FDA has concluded its "consultation process" on Golden Rice. This, you may recall, is rice bioengineered to contain genes for beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A.

The FDA's letter to IRRI concluding the consultation [PDF] includes this statement:

Although GR2E ["Golden"] rice is not intended for human or animal food uses in the United States, when present, it would be a producer's or distributer's [sic] responsibility to ensure that labeling of human and animal foods marketed in the United States, meets applicable legal requirements. Although the concentration of ß-carotene in GR2E rice is too low to warrant a nutrient content claim, the ß-carotene in GR2E rice results in grain that is yellow-golden in color.

The FDA's analysis of the science [PDF] concludes that this rice Is unlikely to be toxic or allergenic. It also concludes that although the rice contains higher amounts of ß-carotene than non-modified rice, people in the U.S. are unlikely to eat much of it and in any case the amounts would decline due to storage, processing, and cooking.

In any case, the amounts are not high enough to merit a nutrient-content claim.

This rice has long been promoted as a means to solve problems of vitamin A deficiency in the developing world. Will it? We are still waiting to find out.

What does "too low to warrant a nutrient content claim" mean?

The FDA's rules for nutrient content claims [PDF] (go to pages 91 and 92) say:

  • "High", "Rich in", or "Excellent source of" means that a standard food portion contains 20% or more of the daily value for that nutrient.
  • "Good source", "Contains", or "Provides" means 10% to 19% of the daily value per standard serving.
  • "More", "Fortified", "Enriched", "Added", "Extra", or "Plus" means 10% or more of the daily value than an appropriate reference food.

The daily value for beta-carotene [PDF] is complicated because it is a precursor of vitamin A; 12 micrograms of beta-carotene are equivalent to one vitamin A unit. The standard for adults and children is 900 vitamin A units or 900 x 12 for beta-carotene = 10,800 micrograms.

One serving of Golden Rice must provide less than 10% of that amount (1,080 micrograms).

For comparison, one small carrot provides about 4000 micrograms of beta-carotene.

Previous: Where's the Golden Rice?


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @09:58PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @09:58PM (#690541)

    [Outside USA,] Rice is [..] harvested year around.
    Carrots and other out-of-season crops are simply not available

    Any farmers|folks in flyover country who can verify that grain -will- grow at a time of year when veggies won't?
    Is there a change in the yield with season?

    TFA also mentions that even a -puny- carrot will do better than the grain WRT beta carotene.

    .
    I've wondered if a Fresnel lens|parabolic reflector that was set up to track the sun and direct the light|warmth onto a garden plot would gain anything WRT the growing season.
    (I do know that greenhouses|cold frames work.)

    Oooo and I saw a cool thing the other week about big concrete parabolics being used in UK pre-WWII for detecting inbound Krauts.
    Mirror mirror on sea wall, spot those airships, make Kaiser bawl [theregister.co.uk]

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday June 08 2018, @11:33PM (2 children)

    In the parts where such wheat is grown it often snows but not so much that the ground stays covered with it.

    (I lived in Moscow when my Dad was a grad student at the U of I.)

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @02:11AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @02:11AM (#690635)

      Named by propagandists.
      It's planted in the autumn, it stays basically dormant for the winter, and doesn't become useful for humans until late spring.
      ...unless they plan on turning it into hay while the weather is cold.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Arik on Saturday June 09 2018, @04:11AM

        by Arik (4543) on Saturday June 09 2018, @04:11AM (#690673) Journal
        We always planted winter rye, and saved a little for flavor, but basically it got tilled under in the spring to help maintain the soil.
        --
        If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday June 09 2018, @04:08AM

    by Arik (4543) on Saturday June 09 2018, @04:08AM (#690668) Journal
    "Any farmers|folks in flyover country who can verify that grain -will- grow at a time of year when veggies won't?"

    Well this is rice we're talking about it's not a grain that's grown so often in the US, and no, I don't think it's going to be growing in the US when other veggies aren't. But in Thailand, Laos, China, India, etc. - nations which grow and consume the huge amounts of rice - there are probably areas where rice can be grown year round. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddy_field says this is true specifically in Myanmar, it's not going to be true everywhere, but probably significant portions of neighboring countries can do the same.

    That said, those very same areas can probably also do the same with vegetable crops, at least I would expect that to be true. I've farmed, but I've never farmed in the tropics.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?