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Hsinchu Rice Noodles is a popular dish in Taiwan and it is also commonly used in daily life. Wind of September around Hsinchu area helps to dry the thick and moist preliminary Rice Noodles and therefore Hsinchu Rice Noodles became famous long time ago. Hsinchu Rice Noodles become internationally recognized after manufactures developed thin Rice Noodles. In recent era, most people think ‘Hsinchu Rice Noodles’ when they think ‘Rice Noodles from Taiwan’. After corn starch was introduced in 1970s, the Rice Noodles industry was changed and effected greatly. Manufactures started to substitute rice with corn starch because corn starch is much cheaper than rice. By using corn starch, manufactures are also able to increase productivity and gain advantages from skipping few complicated production processes. During last 40 years, customers had no idea that gradually rice was replaced by corn starch as the main ingredient. In 2013, the so called ‘fake Rice Noodles’ incident brought a great impact to Rice Noodles industry. FDA in Taiwan established a new regulation for Rice Noodles and Rice Noodles can be divided into 3 grades according to the percentage of rice used. If it is made from 100% rice, it can be named ‘Pure Rice Noodles’. If it only contains 50-99% of rice, it can only be named ‘mixed Rice Noodles’. If it only contains 0-49% of rice, it should be named ‘steamed Rice Noodles.’
Actual tasting is conducted during the survey to assist to find factors which will effect customers when they purchase Rice Noodles. The result from the survey shows that customers care about if there are food additives the most than price and percentage of rice content. The result and conclusion of this research provide pure Rice Noodles manufactures a good reference adjusting its production and proportion of products, as well as adjusting its strategy based on increasing value added of pure Rice Noodles which has no food additives
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