Comparison of quality of appearance, cooking quality, and protein content of green‐labeled rice and conventional rice

Abstract Background and Objectives With rising living standards, people are more willing to pay for rice with environmental attributes (green‐labeled rice) than rice without environmental attributes (conventional rice). The aim of this study was to assess whether green‐labeled rice possesses higher quality than conventional rice. Aimed at green‐labeled rice in the market, the appearance quality, cooking quality, and protein content were systematically analyzed and compared with conventional rice. Findings The superior quality rate (SQR) of green‐labeled rice was 92.0%, which was much higher than that of conventional rice (67.8%). Green‐labeled rice showed a lower percentage of chalky rice, chalkiness, and a higher gel consistency, alkali spreading value, and translucency. SQRs of chalkiness, transparency grade, gel consistency, alkali spreading value, and amylose content for green‐labeled rice were all higher than those of conventional rice. Rice quality was evaluated by dividing all rice into indica rice and japonica rice, resulting in a similar trend, wherein higher quality in terms of appearance and cooking quality were observed in green indica rice and green japonica rice than conventional ones. No significant difference was observed in the protein content between green‐labeled rice and conventional rice. Conclusions Green‐labeled rice showed better quality in terms of appearance and cooking quality than conventional rice, and had similar protein content to conventional rice. It possessed higher SQRs of each quality parameter and significantly lower chalkiness and amylose content, and significantly higher translucency, gel consistency, and alkali spreading value than conventional rice. Significance and Novelty Limited research has been reported on the overall quality of market green‐labeled rice and comparison of quality between green‐labeled rice and conventional rice. This paper systematically analyzed the overall quality of green‐labeled rice. It was important for consumers to understand the overall quality of green‐labeled rice in the market, and of guidance for rice purchase and green rice production.