Rice traceability system in Taiwan

Introduction Taiwan utilizes a voluntary Agricultural Products Traceability Certification System. This system was implemented in 2007 under the ‘Agricultural Production and Certification Act.’ Since then, certain agricultural products have been certified using a label that includes product name, trace code, public information, and the Traceability Agricultural Product logo. Consumers can easily identify the traceability information through the bar code reader in the store. Being the staple food in Taiwan, rice plays an important role in the Traceability Certification System. In the east part of Taiwan, where there is a well-established rice traceability system, the rice provides higher added value in both the local market and international markets. Methods Generally speaking, the traceability system is based on the document and recording systems used on farms and in food-processing plants. In order to use scientific evidence to identify rice origins, near-infrared spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma element analysis were used to determine rice origins from the north, middle, south, and east parts of the island. Rice varieties and planting methods were considered as well as geographic origins. Eighty-three paddy rice samples were collected island wide, including japonica cultivars of TK2, TK9, TN11, and T71. During processing, all samples were hulled and milled under the same conditions. Brown rice and milled rice were analyzed separately using both near-infrared and inductively coupled plasma methods. Results Results show that near-infrared and inductively coupled plasma methods are able to statistically significantly distinguish the rice geographic authenticity for the same rice cultivars, regardless of whether the samples were brown rice or milled rice. Conclusions When testing different cultivars of japonica rice from different areas, the near-infrared method produced more accurate results for brown rice, whereas the inductively coupled plasma method produced better results for milled rice from different areas.