Brown rice syrup is one of the most commonly used natural sweeteners in the granola bar aisle. It gives our Seed Bars their slightly caramelized, chewy texture and binds our Protein Bars together without making the bars overly sweet. We use the highest quality brown rice syrup we can find, from suppliers we know and trust.
What is brown rice syrup?
Brown rice syrup is a natural sweetener made from whole brown rice. The brown rice is grown in paddies and harvested all at once in September, October, or November, depending on the weather conditions of that year’s crop. After harvest, the rice is milled into a flour and mixed with water to create a “slurry.” Enzymes are then added to break down the starches and the mixture is filtered to separate the solids from the liquid. Finally, the liquid is boiled to evaporate the moisture until it has achieved the desired consistency of a heavy, sticky, caramel-colored syrup.
Where does your brown rice syrup come from?
The brown rice used to make our syrup is grown in Pakistan and is transformed into brown rice syrup in facilities powered with 100% renewable, solar energy.
Does brown rice syrup contain arsenic?
Arsenic is a naturally-occurring metal found in water and soil to varying degrees throughout the world. It is absorbed by many crops from the soils and water used to grow them. The reason some people have expressed concern regarding levels of arsenic in brown rice syrup is because rice is grown in paddies, which is an agricultural method of growing rice in shallow pools that are periodically flooded with water. Rice therefore absorbs more of the minerals and metals found in the water and soil. The water and soil in Pakistan where our brown rice is grown is relatively lower in arsenic levels than many other parts of the world.
Our brown rice syrup supplier also conducts heavy metal testing for every batch. The levels of arsenic in our brown rice syrup are well below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended safe levels in drinking water. Even if our brown rice syrup contained the maximum safe level of arsenic determined by our supplier, each of our Seed Bars would contain, at most, 12.5 times less arsenic than the safe levels in drinking water determined by WHO. Additionally, arsenic does not accumulate in the body and is therefore safe for human consumption in small doses.