USA Rice, in a recent blog post indicated that it is considering asking FDA and other regulatory agencies to “look into” the use of “rice” or “riced” in the name of vegetables that have gone through a ricer.  USA Rice President and CEO Betsy Ward states “Vegetables that have gone through a ricer are still vegetables, just in a different form.  Only rice is rice, and calling ‘riced vegetables,’ ‘rice,’ is misleading to consumers.”

As previously covered on this blog, members of the United States House of Representatives sent FDA a letter requesting that FDA enforce the standard of identity for milk, especially as it pertains to the use of the name “milk” for plant-based products (including soy, rice, and various tree nuts).

FDA has previously stated that food products that are similar to foods for which a standard exists (e.g. butter created using a cultured cream) can name their product a modified version of the food name (e.g. cultured butter).

USA Rice’s stance on riced vegetables, following on pressure on FDA to consider whether non-dairy milk violates the milk standard, seems to indicate a general trend of protecting the use of food names against purported imitators.