Red Yeast Rice
Red Yeast Rice, a traditional fermented product, is the general name for a group of products made by inoculating Monascus on the rice and then through fermentation.
Depending upon difference application,Red Yeast Rice can be classified into three types
1.Red Yeast Rice as food pigment
It is a kind of natural pigment widely used all over the world. Color value is the key specification. It’s mainly used in meat products.
2.Red Yeast Rice for wine fermentation
3.Red Yeast Rice as health care, medicine, cosmetics, and food ingredient.
These three types of Red Yeast Rice have similar appearance, but are different in the microbial strain and the technical process. Only the Red Yeast Rice which contains Monacolin K is called functional Red Yeast Rice. The production of functional Red Yeast Rice is a process of growing natural active ingredients from Monascus Purpureus by the secondary metabolism through fermentation. This process yields natural active Monacolin K which helps lower levels of cholesterol in blood. Therefore the Monacolin K content is the key specification of function Red Yeast Rice.