While China wrestles with tainted dairy products revolving around a “milk scandal” responsible for the deaths of four Chinese babies and the sickness of thousands more, companies such as NutraCea are addressing health and food needs in other ways.

NutraCea’s product line includes nutritious ingredients for human and animal food companies, promoting health and nutrient-dense rice bran products for humanitarian feeding efforts. The company today announced it has received a purchase order to introduce nutritionally-fortified baby cereal into the Chinese market.

The products are set to launch in February 2009, and soon after, the company intends for these products to hit the shelves of supermarkets and specialty baby stores in China. NutraCea’s goal is to penetrate about 5 percent of the baby cereal market in the next five years.

“Our customer has over 50 regional sales offices all over China and intends to distribute this custom-made, nutritionally-enhanced baby cereal product

NutraCea, a world leader in stabilized rice bran, has signed a definitive agreement with the Bright Food Investment Group, a subsidiary of Bright Food Group, to build the world’s largest rice bran oil refinery. The new refinery will process an estimated 500,000 metric tons of raw rice bran annually to produce rice bran oil, new patent-pending defatted rice bran, and stabilized rice bran, all of which will be used in a wide range of food applications.

The facility is estimated to be completed in 2010 and will be the world’s largest rice bran oil manufacturing plant, with the capacity to produce in excess of $200 million in annual gross revenues based on today’s market prices. Both companies are also anticipating future projects together, including constructing additional facilities of similar size.

According to the terms of the agreement, NutraCea will provide 80 percent of the capital and retain 72 percent of