Nutrition Survey Gives “Grown in the USA” a Big Thumbs Up

ARLINGTON, VA -- Last month USA Rice exhibited at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ 2020 Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) with a virtual booth to distribute USA Rice nutrition handouts, U.S.-grown varietal information, recipes, relevant industry videos, and access to foodservice resources.  

Attendees also had the opportunity to fill out a questionnaire on rice usage, applications, nutritional reputation, and the importance of the “Grown in the USA” claim.  More than 600 dietitians, food policy makers, healthcare providers, nutrition scientists and researchers, and food industry leaders from around the world took part in the online survey and were asked a series of questions, including, “How often do you use or recommend rice?”, “What is your opinion on rice’s nutritional reputation?”, and “Does using rice grown in the United States matter to you?”

“The survey results were exceedingly positive for rice as a whole and specifically U.S.-grown rice,” said Cameron Jacobs, USA Rice director of domestic promotion.  “We always appreciate hearing directly from authorities within the nutrition space to better understand current interests and attitudes that pertain to rice.”

Sixty-nine percent of respondents indicated they use or recommend rice once a week or more, followed by 19 percent who answered their usage rate was monthly.  Less than a percentage point of respondents chose rarely/never.

On the subject of rice’s nutritional reputation, 47 percent said they thought rice’s nutritional reputation had strengthened recently.  And an overwhelming 70 percent of survey respondents indicated country of origin is important to them and that packaging emphasizing “Grown in the USA” matters.

“That last statistic about the importance of American-grown to nutritionists really stands out to me,” said Jacobs.  “This is a testament to the strong reputation of the U.S. rice industry, and a decisive sign that USA Rice needs to increase U.S.-grown talking points for current and future nutrition programming.”