NutraCea Files a Provisional Patent on its Technology to Stabilize Wheat Bran 

25/01/08 NutraCea, a world leader in stabilized rice bran (SRB), nutrient research and technology, announced has filed for provisional patent protection with the U.S. Patent and Trade Mark Office on its technology to stabilize wheat bran. This process for wheat bran stabilization was developed by NutraCea and is a modification and extension of its existing technology for the stabilization of rice bran. The provisional patent is also applicable to other cereal brans and oilseeds.

The Company believes that the stabilization of wheat bran presents an opportunity for long term growth and is a logical extension of NutraCea's expanding stabilized rice bran business. Currently, 30 million tons of wheat is milled in the United States, creating 7.5 million tons of bran as a by-product. Wheat bran, like many cereal brans, has a relatively short shelf life. Because of this, wheat bran has limited usefulness as a human food. NutraCea's newly filed provisional patent for wheat bran extends the shelf life while maintaining the nutritional value making it a commercially viable ingredient for any wheat-based food product.

Leo Gingras, Chief Operating Officer of NutraCea, commented, "Wheat bran is typically used as animal feed at a price of approximately $130 per ton, while wheat flour in today's market is approaching $600 per ton for standard baking flour and as much as $1,000 per ton for higher value semolina flour. We believe that stabilized wheat bran, using our proprietary process, will offer flavor, shelf life and nutritional characteristics that will be functionally and economically attractive for blending with wheat flour. This enhanced, blended wheat flour could be used in many products where wheat is the major ingredient such as bread, crackers, cereals, pancakes and pastas."

"In addition, there is a significant opportunity that exists beyond the U.S. with approximately 500 million tons of wheat milled world wide on an annual basis at a time when wheat supplies are declining and prices are climbing to higher levels," added Gingras.

"The global potential positive economic impact to the wheat industry could be very significant. For example, every one percent of wheat bran that is blended back into wheat flour adds over $2 billion in annual incremental revenue to the industry worldwide," Gingras said.