China-Japan Premium Rice Tasting: China's Arowana WuChang Base Original Fragrant Rice Takes Top Prize

HIROSHIMA, Japan, July 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Japanese Society for Rice Quality and Palatability (JSRQP) held its 16th Annual Conference and Seminar in Hiroshima on November 6, 2024. As part of the event, the Premium Japonica Rice Tasting Session featured entries from across the region. Arowana WuChang Base Original Fragrant Rice, developed by Yihai Kerry Arawana Holdings Co., Ltd. (Arawana) and produced using the company's proprietary Six-Step Precision Control Technology of Fresh Rice, stood out among the competition and earned the event's highest distinction—the Excellence Award. Evaluated against Koshihikari, Japan's best-known rice variety, and selected through a rigorous tasting process, the win has brought new attention to the high standards of Chinese-grown premium rice.

Rigorous Evaluation, Top Selection

During the China-Japan Premium Japonica Rice Tasting Session, a panel of 23 rice quality experts from both countries conducted a blind sensory evaluation. Using Koshihikari as the benchmark and applying Japanese tasting standards, judges assessed 21 anonymized rice samples for visual appeal, fragrance, stickiness, and texture. Arowana WuChang Base Original Fragrant Rice earned top marks for its translucent appearance, rich aroma, balanced stickiness, and soft mouthfeel, ultimately securing the coveted Excellence Award.

Freshness and Traceability: A Six-Step Precision Approach to Rice Quality

The award-winning rice owes its quality to Arawana's Six-Step Precision Control Technology of Fresh Rice—a proprietary method that ensures optimal freshness through six key stages: timely harvesting, low-temperature drying, low-temperature storage, moderate milling, hypoxic packaging, and scientifically guided cooking. The process begins with timely harvesting, a step that is both the starting point and the most critical in preserving rice quality. Carried out when the grain reaches approximately 90% maturity—a stage that balances flavor development and yield optimization—this precision harvest not only enhances taste and texture but also reduces field losses by an estimated 5%, minimizing broken grains, dry matter loss, and damage from mechanical harvesting. Arawana's method has been recognized with the Special Prize of the Science and Technology Award by the Chinese Cereals and Oils Association for its innovation and successful industrial-scale implementation.

Judges also acknowledged Arawana's partnership with Sinochem Agriculture's MAP beSide program, which provides full traceability from farm to shelf. Through scientifically managed fields and satellite monitoring, the program has played a key role in supporting consistent rice quality.

A New Chapter in China-Japan Rice Collaboration

Since its founding in 2009, the JSRQP has worked to improve the taste and quality of Japanese rice through careful cultivar selection and innovation in cultivation. The Excellence Award presented to Arowana WuChang Base Original Fragrant Rice—produced using the Six-Step Precision Control Technology—represents a meaningful moment in the deepening exchange between Chinese and Japanese rice growers. The two countries are expected to strengthen cooperation in rice quality research, with the shared goal of delivering superior taste experiences to consumers worldwide.