SINGAPORE - Supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice launched a six-month public education campaign on Thursday (Oct 5) to promote brown rice.
The initiative aims to encourage people to switch to eating brown rice, in support of the national drive to fight diabetes.
The need to combat diabetes was highlighted in Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech in August.
As part of the public education campaign, FairPrice will give a 10 per cent discount on three FairPrice housebrand wholegrain rice products from Thursday until Oct 18. These include brown unpolished rice, red unpolished rice and Thai rice blend.
There will also be in-store materials such as posters and creative recipes that incorporate wholegrain rice.
Dedicated bays for brown rice will also be created at the stores so it is more "visible and prominent to shoppers", said FairPrice in a press release. More than 30 FairPrice outlets have these bays installed and they will be progressively rolled out to all FairPrice supermarkets.
FairPrice said that its outlets have seen a more than 15 per cent increase in the take-up rate of brown rice products annually from 2013 to 2016.
The initiative to promote brown rice was launched at the annual FairPrice Walk for Rice @ South East, in which members of the public take part in walks to "raise" rice for underprivileged families.
The walk is in its ninth year and aims to raise 500,000 bowls of rice to benefit more than 7,000 underprivileged families in the South East district.
More than 700 people took part in the walk, treading 1km each.
For every 200m walked, NTUC FairPrice Foundation, FairPrice's charity arm, will donate one bowl of brown rice and one bowl of white rice towards the campaign.
While white rice was initially distributed to needy families, brown rice has also been added to the mix in the past three years.
Said Mr Seah Kian Peng, chief executive officer of NTUC FairPrice: "The walk this year is even more significant and relevant as we complement the national agenda to reduce the risk of diabetes among Singaporeans. We will be encouraging everyone to adopt an active lifestyle and a healthy diet through a public campaign on brown rice."
