An overview of one of the world's leading rice marketing companies by Riviana Foods president Bastiaan deZeeuw was a keynote of the annual Industry Alliance Meeting May 26 sponsored by the University of Arkansas Rice Processing Program.

A new $98 million Riviana Foods plant in Memphis will purchase rice from Arkansas and other sources, said deZeeuw, who is president and CEO of Riviana Foods, based in Houston, and Ebro Puleva North America. The parent company is based in Spain. Riviana and Ebro Puleva market some of the world's leading rice and pasta brands on seven continents.

The Memphis plant will produce a variety of value-added rice products, deZeeuw said. The company sees growing demand for products that appeal to consumer desires for convenience, healthy foods and culinary adventurism, he said. Riviana plants are also located in Carlisle, Hazen and Brinkley.

Arkansas farmers produce nearly half of the rice grown in the United States. Most producers are members of farmer-owned processing and marketing cooperatives based in Arkansas. On an issue of concern to Arkansas producers, deZeeuw said he believes Europe will not import U.S. rice in the foreseeable future. A trace of genetically modified rice detected in rice exported from the U.S. in 2006 led to a loss of markets in Europe. The U.S. industry now has safeguards to prevent genetically modified rice in exports, but its image in Europe remains tarnished and European processors have developed other supply networks, he said.

World rice supplies are growing at a rate that should continue to meet demand from a growing world population, deZeeuw said. He predicted that imports of both aromatic and non-aromatic rice into the U.S. will increase, particularly on the West Coast.

The meeting in the university's Poultry Science Center auditorium included an overview by University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture scientists on rice drying, milling, and processing research. Terry Siebenmorgen, University Professor of food science, directs the research program, which is supported by rice processors and affiliated companies and the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board.

Siebenmorgen said research focuses on factors that affect yield and quality of milled rice ranging from differences in rice varieties and pre-harvest conditions to drying, storage, milling and end-use processing. Recently introduced topics include nutrition and energy requirements to help improve the environmental sustainability of processing operations, he said.

Graduate student Alejandra Billiris presented a study to quantify theoretical energy requirements to dry rice as a basis for comparing actual drying systems.

Graduate student Jordan Teeple said a nutrition study found that red and black rice had a protective effect on bones of rats. The results suggest that rice products may help reduce the effects of osteoporosis in humans, she said.

The meeting included a tour of research facilities, which includes a pilot plant in the Food Science Building at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center north of the main campus. The tour featured a new experimental parboiling unit for research on the process by which rice is heated to gelatinization in the husk before milling. Parboiling increases milling quality and nutritional content, Siebenmorgen said.