Agricultural Product Standards Act, 1990 (Act No. 119 of 1990) Regulations Grading, Packing and Marking of Rice Kernels intended for sale in the Republic of South Africa 1. Definitions

 

In these regulations any word or expression to which a meaning has been assigned in the Act shall have that meaning and, unless the context otherwise indicates—

 

"address"

means a physical address in the Republic of South Africa and includes the street or road number or name, and the name of the town, village or suburb and, in the case of a farm, the name or number of the farm and of the magisterial district in which it is situated;

 

"aromatic or fragrant rice"

means aromatic or fragrance speciality varieties of rice kernels of (Oryza Sativa L. scented) that have a distinctive and characteristic aroma; e.g. basmati and jasmine rice; Texmati, Tulaipanji, Wehani, and wild pecan rice;

 

"brown rice"

means rice kernel from which the husk only has been removed, (the word wholegrain shall only be used on un-milled brown rice;

 

"black kernels"

means parboiled rice kernels that are black wholly including kernels that are dark brown;

 

"bulk container"

means a suitable packing unit or container relating to bulk storage and/or transport of rice kernels;

 

"chalky kernels"

means whole or broken kernels except for glutinous rice, of which at least three-quarter of the surface has an opaque and floury appearance;

 

"chip"

means a fragment of rice kernel, which passes through a metal sieve with round perforation 1.4 mm in diameter;

 

"coloured rice"

means rice varieties which are naturally pigmented and unmilled;

 

"composite or mixed rice"

means variety of rice and coloured rice which

 

"container"

means a bag or a bulk container or other suitable packing unit or container;

 

"consignment"

means a quantity of rice kernels of the same kind or class which is delivered at any one time under cover of the same consignment note, delivery note or receipt note, or delivered by the same vehicle or bulk container, or which is loaded from a bin of a grain elevator from a ships hold or railway truck, or if such a quantity is subdivided into different classes, each quantity of each of different classes;

 

"damaged kernels"

means whole or broken kernels of rice which are distinctly discoloured or damaged by moisture, insects, diseases, and or any other means but excluding heat damaged or yellow kernels (including a parboiled rice in a non-parboiled rice and smutty kernels);

 

"defective rice kernels"

means damaged kernels, yellow kernels, immature kernels, chalky kernels, red kernels, red-streaked kernels, and pecks as listed in column 1 of table 3 and 4;

 

"foreign matter"

means all matter other than rice, including rice husks and rice bran, animal filth, glass, metal, stones and coal that does not form part of rice, of which Coal, dung, glass and metal shall not be present in the consignment concerned;

 

"germ"

means the small white portion which lies on the ventral side of the rice grain from where the seed germinates;

 

"glutinous or waxy rice"

means kernels of special varieties of rice (Oryza Sativa L. glutinosa) which have a white and opaque appearance. The starch of glutinous rice consists almost entirely of amylopectin. It has a tendency to stick together after cooking;

 

"head rice"

means whole or part of the milled kernel with a length greater or equal to 75% of the average length;

 

"hull"

means the outermost cover of the rice kernel, also known as “husk”;

 

"husked rice"

means brown rice or cargo rice from which the husk only has been removed;

 

"immature kernels"

means the unripe and/or underdeveloped whole or broken kernels, including the malformed kernels;

 

"insect/ pest"

means any live grain insect that is injurious to stored grain irrespective of the stage of development of that insect;

 

"large broken rice"

means a rice kernel of which the length is less than three quarters and greater than one half of the average length of the whole kernel as depicted in figure 2 of the annexure;

 

"lot"

means a stated quantity of rice kernels, presumed to be of uniform characteristics, taken

 

"main panel"

means that part of the label or container bearing the trade mark, trade name or brand name in greatest prominence and any other part of the label or container bearing the trade mark, trade name or brand name in equal prominence;

 

"micrometer"

means the measuring device, that is capable of reading to the nearest 0.01mm and which does not deform the kernels;

 

"milled rice"

means de-husked rice kernels from which all or part of the bran and germ have been removed by milling ["white rice" is used as a synonym] and which may be either parboiled or not;

 

"milling degree"

means the extent of which the bran layers and the germ have been removed:

 

"moisture content"

means the weight of water contained in a rice kernel/s expressed as percentage of the weight of the rice kernel/s;

 

"packer"

means a person or company packing rice for sale, a person/company on whose behalf rice are packed for sale and a person/company importing rice for sale;

 

"paddy rice"

means rice kernels which has retained its husk after threshing and may be parboiled or not;

 

"parboiled rice"

means husked or milled rice processed from paddy or husked rice that has been soaked in water and subjected to a heat treatment so that the starch is fully gelatinized, followed by a drying process;

 

"partly black rice"

means parboiled rice kernels that have obviously black or dark brown discolouration covering an area greater than 25% of the kernels ‘surface;

 

"peck kernels"

means parboiled rice kernels that have obviously black or dark brown discolouration covering an area not exceeding more than 25% of the kernels surface;

 

"poisonous seeds"

means the seeds or bits of seeds of plant species that may present a hazard to human or animal health when consumed, including seeds of Argemone mexicana L., Convolvulus spp., Crotalaria spp., Canavalia ensiformus, Datura spp., Ipomoea purpurea, Lolium temulentum, Ricinus communis or Xanthium spp.;

 

"premium grade"

means the rice quality which meets the highest grade requirements as set out in the Annexure;

 

"red kernel"

means a whole or broken kernel, having a red coloured pericarp (bran layer) covering more than one-quarter of the surface, but excluding yellow kernels;

 

"red streaked kernel"

means whole or broken kernel, with red streaks, the length of which are greater than or equal to one-half of that of the whole kernel, but where the surface covered by these red streaks is less than-quarter of the total surface;

 

"retail quantity"

means a quantity of 10 kg or less of rice, irrespective whether sold in containers or in loose quantities;

 

"rice"

means whole or broken grains or kernels obtained from the species Oryza Sativa L and Oryza Glaberrima.;

 

"risotto/arborio rice"

means short grain rice varieties native to Italy. Arborio rice has a white core and the ability to absorb flavour and large quantities of water;

 

"sieve"

means a round hole metal sieve of 1.4 mm diameter and the round perforated holes of 1.75 mm diameter;

 

"small broken rice"

means the fragment of the rice kernel, which can pass through a sieve with round perforations of 1.75 mm in diameter, with the length less than one quarter of the average length of the whole kernel as depicted in figure 2 of the annexure;

 

"speciality rice"

means rice varieties that differ from typical rice varieties in their quality and they are characterised by certain special quality features like aroma, texture, colour, kernel length, flavour, chemical compositional, usage, amylose content and ecological regions;

 

"standard grade"

means rice which is of a lower quality than value grade as set out in the Annexure;

 

"sushi rice"

means rice varieties consisting of short translucent grains or kernels which cooks to a sticky texture;

 

"the Act"

means the Agricultural Product Standards Act, 1990 (Act No. 119 of 1990);

 

"under milled rice"

means milled rice kernels that have the milling degree below that specified for each grade of rice;

 

"value grade"

means rice which is a lower quality than premium grade as set out in the

Annexure;

 

"wild rice"

means rice varieties from the genus Zizania they have a chewy outer sheath with a tender inner grain that has a slightly vegetal taste;

 

"whole kernel"

husked or milled rice grain without any broken part as depicted in figure 2 of the annexure; and

 

"yellow kernels or heat damaged kernels"

means a whole or broken kernels that have changed their normal colour as a result of heating, and includes parboiled rice kernels found in a batch of non-parboiled rice kernels.