Rice flour bread introduced

Rajmi Manatunga

COLOMBO: The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) yesterday introduced bread made of rice flour to the public in a bid to save the foriegn exchange spent on importing wheat flour.

The bread and a range of other food products made of rice flour were introduced at a seminar held at the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd (ANCL) yesterday to promote the consumption of rice flour.

Addressing the seminar, Science and Technology Minister Prof. Tissa Vitharana said that in addition to the cost involved, wheat flour was also the cause of health hazards since it is devoid of important vitamins and fibre.

"The use of rice flour to produce bread will also help our economy, given the staggering amount of money spent on importing wheat flour," he said.

CAA Chairman Sarath Wijesinghe said that Sri Lanka spends a substantial part of its national income on purchasing wheat flour from countries like Brazil and the United States.

"It is ironic that we are enriching farmers in other countries while those in our own country commit suicide unable to sell their produce," he said.

He said the time has come to replace this wheat flour culture with a culture based on rice in accordance with the Mahinda Chinthana.

ANCL Chairman Anil Obeysekere addressing the seminar said that using rice flour to make bread and other food could have a twin benefit.

"On the one hand it would be a tremendous saving of foriegn exchange while it would also benefit our farmer community. The ANCL will do its best to support this attempt to promote rice products," he added.

Obeysekere also pointed out that Sri Lanka spends Rs 17 billion per annum to import wheat flour.