|
--- |
|
The good health of our children – parboiled rice for all !
Should we take the colour white as a warning, when looking for healthy food ? It is quite surprising to see that in the capital Ouagadougou families who eat the national staple dish of tô, now almost exclusively use white maize. Not long ago the tô was made out of millet or sorghum. But today, in order to make it a beautiful white, it is made from polished white maize and is therefore of less nutritional value. And now the inhabitants in the capital seem to make the same mistake with rice, preferring the white rice to the parboiled variety, although any expert on food and nutrition will tell you that parboiled rice is much healthier.
To ignore the parboiled rice and use the “nicely polished, beautiful white” rice, is to neglect one’s health and the health of one’s children. White rice is stripped of bran and has very little nutritional value.
To convince you here is a quote from a booklet by Didier Pol:
“Christian Eijkman (1858 – 1930) was the Chief medical officer of the prison in Java, then a Dutch protectorate, from 1888 to 1896. Many prisoners suffered from beriberi, a neurological disease that leads to paralysis and death. Eijkman fed his chicken milled (polished) rice, which wasalso the staple food of prisoners. Many chicken had polyneuritis, a condition similar to that of beriberi. When the prison commander no longer allowed Eijkman to use rice from the kitchen, he instead bought whole rice for the chicken and to his surprise they recovered from their paralysis. Since the only difference of whole rice, compared to the white milled rice, is that the grain still has its bran lining, Eijkman had the idea to feed the chicken with a mix of white rice and bran. The chicken again recovered. He then stated that the polyneuritis of chicken was similar to the beriberi in humans and – wrongly – concluded that there was a toxin in rice and an antidote in the bran. By using the same food mix on prisoners, he managed nevertheless to eradicate the beriberi.” (Extract from “The discovery of vitamins”).
  Parboiled rice can be described as an intermediate between whole rice (with its husk and bran, rich in vitamins, but unmarketable because of its brownish colour) and white, milled rice. When paddy rice is steamed (parboiled), bran particles are channelled into the core. This is what gives it its nutritional value. Experts estimate that the vitamin B1 content is twice as high and that of B2 and PP three times as high in parboiled rice.
Moreover, according to the government’s documentation , 100 kg of paddy rice (straight from the field) gives 60 – 62 kg milled rice , i.e. husked, polished and white (of no value as a nutrient), whereas according to the observations of a number of field workers in the Sourou rice district, it will yield 70 – 75 kg of parboiled rice (which is healthy and contains an abundance of vitamins). How can people then continue to prefer the “beautiful white”, “nicely polished” rice to the parboiled? I do not really have an answer, if not simply: A – disastrous – consumer habit. Our children and our families deserve no lesser treatment than that of the chicken in the Java prison ! If we take a look at the situation at the national level in Burkina, one wonders why the public authorities do not take an interest in parboiled rice. I do not have an answer. But it is definitely certain that ignoring the parboiled rice results in a substantial loss after harvest. The present government forecast is 300 000 ton of rice at the next harvest. With a 61% yield at milling that would amount to 183 000 ton “beautiful white, nicely polished” rice …
If , on the other hand, it were decided to use the entire harvest for parboiled rice, there would be 217 000 ton (based on an average yield of 72.5%) , in other words an additional 34 000 ton of edible rice ! Which is not insignificant – a bonus of nearly 19%!
  This is good news for the citizens of Ouagadougou who are prepared to change their eating habits to further the well being of their families. The women who parboil rice up in the Sourou rice plains have just opened a store in the capital. A store of easy access as well. It is located in Pissy in front of the Shell gas station, at the traffic lights just before ONEA (coming from the city centre). The store is on the right hand side. When driving, you turn right at the traffic lights, continue about 10 metres on the t armac, then leave the t armac and turn to your right. You will have a range of about ten stores at your left and you will see a sign Riz étuvé du Sourou – Association Malokadi.
No parking problems here – there is plenty of space to welcome you. The rice is sold at 8 500 CFA francs/bag of 25 kg. There are also 1 kg bags for 400 francs. Contact telephone number 70 44 38 57
Bon appétit!
Koudougou, October 1st, 2009
Maurice Oudet
Director, SEDELAN
|
|
|
