Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

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?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Arik on Saturday June 09 2018, @03:54AM

    by Arik (4543) on Saturday June 09 2018, @03:54AM (#690666) Journal
    "What does the behavior of people have to do with the nutritional content of a food?"

    A lot. The more often you eat a food, the lower the 'safe' dose of many different contaminants is. Arsenic is one example. It's found in lots of foods, it's perfectly normal and can't be avoided, but if you get too much it's also dangerous, potentially deadly even.

    Now in the US one of the main ways rice is consumed by humans is in baby food or cereal, and IIRC our standards for those particular applications are reasonably high, about the same as the EU. But when you get to bags of rice in the store for cooking, statistics show most Americans eat that stuff only occasionally, now and then, and therefore much higher levels of arsenic are allowed. Ironically, China, hardly a place you expect to see good food and safety standards, rejects US rice for failing to meet their standards - because their standards are based on statistics showing a lot of their people eat rice virtually every meal.

    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Interesting=2, Total=2
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4