Beauty from the most basic grain
Rice gives cosmetics and skincare a boost. By Wichit Chantanusornsiri
Rice has long been a farm-to-table product in Thailand, but it has become an increasingly popular ingredient in cosmetics and skincare items such as serums, eyeliner and face masks thanks to innovation, creating value-added products.
These are effective solutions to shield rice growers from low prices, boosting their income in a sustainable way.
Rice can be developed into various value-added products, such as young rice aged 12 days, which can be turned into rice milk and sold for 32,000 baht per tonne, said Adul Chotinisakorn, director of the Commerce Ministry’s Department of Foreign Trade.
Value-added products can reduce the rice supply glut, he said.
Surgical haemostatic agents made from rice starch extracted from broken rice is far cheaper than and has better efficacy than gelatin-based haemostatic agents, given that the former can decompose within three weeks while the latter is does not decompose.
Surgical haemostatic agent product based rice starch is priced at 100 baht each, while gelatin-based haemostatic agents are sold at 350 baht.
Mr Adul said that innovation in rice has been the first of the promoted innovations by the Agricultural Product Innovation (API) Division, established with the main objective to promote value-added innovations in agricultural products, with over 600 food and non-food products supported by the API.
API is focused on research projects that add value to agricultural products for the market.
“The research must be market-driven,” he said, adding that API has plans to promote innovative agricultural products in the international market, such as Hong Kong.
Netnapha Lertmalaimaal, pharmacist and researcher for extracted rice converted into natural ceramide, explained that ceramide helps revive dry skin that has suffered from allergies and is suitable for skin problems, skin inflammation and acne.
Her inspiration for the research, which has cost her over 5 million baht personally, comes from her kid who has problematic skin which causes the skin to peel. Despite the use of imported products from overseas, the condition hasn’t improved, so the pharmacist took the lead to conduct the research herself.
“Ceramide is a substance present in many plants, including rice,” said Mrs Netnapha.
She extracts ceramide from rice bran, which costs five baht per kilogramme, and when extracted into ceramide, has a price of 100,000 baht per kilogramme.
Ceramide is available in capsule form and has been sold for two years under the brand Smith I, the company she owns. Consumers buy her products to resell in Cambodia. There are also potential investors from Singapore.
She said there are about 800 varieties of Thai rice and 200 varieties of jasmine rice.
“Rice has antioxidants and ceramides, which is a fatty acid that is an anti-inflammatory for the skin. Our products are supplied as food supplements that have met standards for the Food and Drug Administration [FDA], Halal and ISO 22000.”
Acharya Wongsanitkul, manager of BIJA, which means seed or source in Sanskrit, has developed skin products from rice as well. One of these is a cleanser made from rice powder mixed with turmeric that softens the skin.
She is also working on a face mask that uses rice to form fibres as a residual from bacteria. The face mask is considered to be superior to ordinary face masks because it opens up pores to aid the absorption of creams applied after using the face mask.
Manvee Suchyakharkul, managing director of Madeena Good Friend, said the company has introduced the use of stem cells from Thai glutinous black rice for use in eyeliner and eyebrow products. It has the same properties as basic eye liner and also nourishes and makes eyelashes and eyebrows healthier.
Madeena Good Friend’s products have already been approved by the FDA and are being prepared to reach the Chinese market in six months.
“Chinese have light eyebrows and eyelashes, so there’s high demand for this product. This product differs from other eyeliners on the market because it nourishes, so there are no competitors in the market. It’s also easy to wash off,” she said.