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RiceX Announces Letter of Intent From Christian Children's Fund of Guatemala for $500,000 of RiceX Solubles

Posted on: Monday, 15 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

EL DORADO HILLS, Calif., Aug. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The RiceX Company (BULLETIN BOARD: RICX) announced today that it has received a letter of intent from the Christian Children's Fund of Guatemala (CCF) to purchase $500,000 of Solubles, RiceX's proprietary nutrition beverage made from stabilized rice bran derivatives, and distribute it to malnourished children and women of child bearing age in Guatemala.

CCF plans to distribute the RiceX nutritional drink to more than 12,000 malnourished children and women of reproductive age in the region of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, which is inhabited by mostly indigenous people in extremely poor communities. Each beneficiary will receive the RiceX nutrition drink daily for a period of 10 months. CCF will also provide training and health education to participants in the program and their families in the target area.

Funding for the project, including the purchase of the RiceX nutrition drink, will be provided through a USDA grant and monetization. The funds are controlled by and administered by the Government of Guatemala.

Dr. Rolando Torres, National Director of CCF Guatemala, commented, "We are very excited with the prospects of renewing a nutritional rescue and recovery program in Huehuetenango, Guatemala." Dr. Torres continued, "Given our prior experiences and the positive results obtained with RiceX Solubles and the school snack program in Guatemala, we are strong believers and have seen first hand the nutritional benefits associated with the intake of RiceX Solubles as part of our nutritional rescue and recovery efforts."

Since 1938, CCF has been working for the health and well-being of children in need. CCF assists 7.6 million children in 34 countries.

Ike Lynch, CEO of The RiceX Company, commented, "We are very pleased to have received this LOI from CCF to benefit the people of Guatemala. The agreement advances our strategic plan for developing international markets and expanding distribution in Central America. This will be our fourth country program and we expect it to be as successful as each of the preceding programs in Guatemala and El Salvador. During our first CCF proof-of-concept program we furnished our RiceX nutrition drink to 67,000 rural Guatemalan children each day and drove the malnutrition rate down from 37% to less that 5% in the test group."

Mr. Lynch, continued, "RiceX was founded on the premise that stabilized rice bran could play a significant role in helping to relieve world hunger and nutrition problems. Our stabilization and processing technology is the cornerstone, capturing a highly nutritious by-product of the rice milling process and converting it to a food source, which otherwise is being wasted worldwide. Our Central American program positions RiceX on the leading edge of supplying all natural, nutritionally dense rice bran products to the international marketplace."

In December 2004, The RiceX Company and NutraCea (BULLETIN BOARD: NTRZ) entered into a definitive agreement to merge the companies together. Margie Adelman, Senior V.P. of NutraCea added, "We look forward to implementing our international initiative to build rice bran stabilization facilities, which will lower the cost of goods and help to facilitate the expansion of feeding programs in other countries such as the RiceX model in Guatemala."

The RiceX Company manufactures and distributes nutritionally dense foods and food ingredients made from its stabilized rice bran that add significant nutritional benefits to food and consumer products. The company believes it is the only company in the world that can deliver all natural, nutritionally dense stabilized rice bran products with the shelf life and nutritional profile demanded by most commercial users for human consumption.

Company Contact: Ike Lynch, CEO RiceX 916-933-3000

'Safe harbor' statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release contains forward looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the impact of the competitive products and pricing, product demand and market acceptance, new product development, reliance on key strategic alliances, availability of raw materials, the regulatory environment, fluctuations in operating results and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

RiceX

CONTACT: Ike Lynch, CEO of RiceX, +1-916-933-3000

Web site: http://www.nutracea.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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