Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Rough rice receiving
Quality inspection
Drying
Fine cleaning of rough rice
Storing rough rice
super-low temperature storage
Hulling
Fine sorting of brown rice
Quality inspection
Brown rice shipping
FIGURE 14.1
Flowchart from rough rice receiving to brown rice shipping of a rice grain
elevator.
then to the dryer through belt conveyers and bucket elevators. After the batch has
gone through the weighing machine, a small amount of rough rice sample (about
2 kg) is automatically taken and carried to the rice quality inspection system, which
is described in detail in the next section. Each farmer has his/her farmer's code,
and data about the unloaded rice of each truck such as weight, moisture content,
protein content, and percentage of sound whole kernel are recorded in a computer.
Information about the product enables support for the farmers' decision making for
next year's production and for traceability of the product.
14.2.2
A
UTOMATIC
R
ICE
Q
UALITY
I
NSPECTION
S
YSTEM
The major chemical constituents of white milled rice are moisture (15%), protein
(7%), and starch (77%). The protein content of white milled rice is a very important
quality aspect, especially in East Asian countries, where people eat short-grain, non-
waxy rice. Ishima et al. (1974), Yanase et al. (1984), and Shibuya (1990) reported
that the protein content of rice is important for the following reasons. Protein inhib-
its water absorption and starch swelling when white milled rice is cooked, and it
greatly affects the texture of cooked rice. Rice with a low protein content is more
sticky and softer when cooked. Because East Asian people prefer sticky and soft
cooked rice, rice with low protein content is therefore preferable in East Asian coun-
tries. Components of brown rice such as sound whole kernel, immature kernel, and
