Huzenlaub Rice is Richer Rice - Time Magazine June 28, 1943

This June 28, 1943 edition of Time Magazine (cover photo of the edition is of Bernard Baruch), discusses "Huzenlaub Rice."

The article leaves out much detail, principally Forrest Mars, the man that made Huzenlaub's journey to America possible.

When Time references Huzenlaub as a German, note how they immediately state, "now a naturalized British citizen". This reference is made because the United States was at war with Germany at the time. The Time Magazine editor wanted to point out that Huzenlaub was a British citizen during the war.

At the time, Huzenlaub was new to America and his primary acquaintance was Forrest Mars. He was not schooled in the processes of marketing and public relations and was not concerned over who received credit for his work. Rather, he wanted to see the world eat more nutritiously and worked vigorously to make sure that the Huzenlaub Process delivered this goal. He could not have achieved this global reach without the support of Forrest Mars.


RICHER RICE
Time Magazine Archives

The milling of white rice has been a notoriously paradoxical operation: most of the food value is stripped off and thrown away before the grain is considered fit for human consumption. A new process has now been developed which avoids this wasteful procedure. Already supplying good, rich white rice to the U.S. armed forces, the process may revolutionize rice milling.

Its U.S. sponsor is a Houston food broker named Gordon L. Harwell. A born pot-watcher, Harwell used to sit up late nights with a pressure cooker and a potful of paddy (rice in the husk) trying to cook up an improvement on conventional milling methods. In orthodox rice milling, machines first remove the husk (containing vitamin Bi), then the germ and several coats of bran (rich in fat, minerals and vitamin B complex), finally give forth a polished white kernel which has lost most of the vitamins and minerals in the original rough grain. (The husks are burned; the bran fed to animals.)

Harwell wanted white rice and all the vitamins too. Brown rice (the stage before the bran and germ are removed) is both rich and edible, but it has never been as popular as white rice because it 1) looks less attractive and 2) keeps less well (the oil it contains becomes rancid). Harwell hunted for a process that would somehow transfer the valuable food elements from the outer coatings to the white kernel, but his pressure cooker experiments were failures.

Then one day a German biochemist named Erich Gustav Huzenlaub (now a naturalized British citizen) marched into Harwell's Houston office with the magic formula. Today, the Harwell plant at Houston produces 1,200 barrels of Huzenlaub Rice (called "converted rice") a day, all of it sold to the Army & Navy. In the new process the rough rice is soaked in warm water, undergoes a vacuum treatment, then is put under pressure which transfers the soluble vitamins and minerals from the husks and bran coatings to the kernel. Next a vacuum dryer seals the vitamins in the kernel; then the rice is husked and polished in the usual way.

Since rice is the world's No. 1 grain (in the number of people it feeds), the Huzenlaub Process may well prove to be one of the most important food discoveries in years. The U.S. rice-milling industry, still loath to accept it, has denied Harwell's firm membership in the Rice Millers' Association, claims that the new process is no better than several others by which milled rice is impregnated with vitamins. But millers in 36 countries around the world are now licensed to use the Huzenlaub Process. Only country turned down so far: Japan. - June 28, 1943

Barron's Business Library

This passage from Barron's Business Library (click image to enlarge) uses Huzenlaub as an example when discussing multinational companies. While the brief mention does not completely portray the business relationship, the passage references other patents Huzenlaub licensed in other areas of the world. It also references the fact that Huzenlaub was German. He did however become a British citizen.

"It's In The Marketing"

Above Images: The British version (top) and French version of the Uncle Ben's websites (found HERE and HERE) provide a more accurate portrayal of the genesis of Uncle Ben's "converted" rice. To better view the images, click either to enlarge. Erich Huzenlaub was born in Germany and eventually became a British citizen. It was in England that he worked with his friend and fellow scientist, Francis Rogers. It was also here that he met Forrest Mars. As Huzenlaub had become a British citizen and Uncle Ben's is an American company, the above marketing pitch is attractive to build a bridge between British customers and the American company. You also will see how they tie in France as part of the genesis to endear themselves to French consumers. This is understandable and it makes sense.


Bottom Image: However, in the United States, the below story is told on the Uncle Ben's website. American audience, American story. No foreigners mentioned as to the true start of the company. While the first paragraph is accurate, the second is not entirely accurate. Compare the sites and see the difference. The company would be better suited to share a consistent message around the world as to the genesis of the great company that is Uncle Ben's. Click on the below image to enlarge or visit the site for yourself HERE.

Rice for G.I.'s - Time Magazine August 28, 1944

This 1944 issue of Time Magazine published in the heat of World War II features a cover with Major General Patch. "Huzenlaub Rice" was utilized by the military in feeding troops.


RICE FOR G.I.'s
Time Magazine Archives

Next week Texas' Gordon L. Harwell and Forrest E. Mars (Mars Candy) will start building a new $750,000 plant at Houston, Tex., to process vitaminized, weevil-proof rice for G.l.s in the hot-weather zones overseas. Financed by Defense Plant Corp. and given a high priority by the War Production Board, the new plant will process 25 to 30 million Ibs. of rice per year for the Army.

Harwell and Mars are U.S. licensees for a rice-milling process developed by German Biochemist Erich Gustav Huzenlaub (now a naturalized British citizen), which forces the vitamins and minerals firmly into the heart of the rice. For the past year and a half, Harwell, who snapped up the Huzenlaub Process after others turned it down, has been struggling to fill Army orders from his original pilot plant. Anxious to get more "converted rice," the Army got behind Mars's and Harwell's plan for a new plant. Last week Harwell hurried aboard an airliner at Washington, Houston-bound with his high-priority certificate and a bundle of blueprints. The plant is scheduled to be completed by January 1, 1945.

To the Quartermaster's Office, the Huzenlaub product is important for two reasons :

1. The hot-weather lands of the South Pacific abound with broad-snouted weevils. The weevils ruin ordinary rice before the men get it. But the Quartermaster's Office can put Huzenlaub's "converted rice" into any kind of bag, ship it to New Guinea or Saipan and never worry about weevils because the milling process makes each grain so slick and hard the weevil can't make a dent in it. It can be stored indefinitely.

2. Water-soluble vitamins and minerals, which are lost to rice when the brown bran husk is removed in the usual commercial milling process, are largely retained in the Huzenlaub Process.

"Converted rice" costs the Army 80¢ per 100-lb. bag more than ordinary commercial rice (average price—$7.72 per 100 Ibs.). Harwell was granted the higher ceiling for his special type several months ago, over the opposition of other millers. But with the greater capacity and efficiency of the new plant he hopes the price will soon be lowered. The Army thinks the premium a small one to pay to give the G.I. relief from dehydrated vegetables. - August 28, 1944