In Wuxi, eastern China, a local biotech workshop is turning low-value broken rice into high-value protein ingredients. The air smells faintly of rice protein as visitors pass rows of more than a dozen bioreactors, each over four metres tall, where a proprietary process separates high-quality rice protein and smaller, easily absorbed rice protein peptides.

Broken rice is a common, low-value byproduct of milling, but the company’s technology extracts nutritious, low-allergy plant protein and peptide fractions that command three to five times the original value. The peptides’ smaller molecular size makes them easier for the body to absorb.

These rice-derived proteins have practical uses in special-diet foods, medical and health supplements, and infant formula, turning an overlooked byproduct into a globally marketable ingredient. What was once milling waste now has new life as a sought-after protein resource.