"I have worked in the grain industry for many years, but never heard of the practice of adding additives to rice during processing. There is no need," a technical veteran with the Food Research Institute of Guangdong province, surnamed Guo, was quoted on Saturday by Guangzhou-based Information Times as saying. According to Guo, there are two ways of packaging grain products in China to keep the rice fresh: vacuum packaging and aerating nitrogen into the packaging bags.
"It is easy, safe and inexpensive to retain the freshness of rice," Guo told the paper.
The revised national standard sought opinions from July to September last year, but officials said they did not receive any objections, so the additives were included on the final list.
"According to the procedure, if someone files an objection, the health department will examine and decide whether to exclude the additive," Chen said.
The standards can also be changed at any time if there are objections from the industry.
"If any rice manufacturer objected to the use of the additives, the health authority will take advice from other businesses and the industry, and make changes in the standard accordingly," Chen said.