MILLING TECHNOLOGIES AND MEASURES TO ARREST POST

HARVEST LOSSES IN RICE

INTRODUCTION

The degree of processing that rice undergoes before it

reaches the consumer influences its nutritional value
enormously. In most countries, white rice is preferred.
However, rice mill feed contains not only the greater part
of vitamins and lipids, but also many proteins. A fully
milled grain of rice contains less protein and more starch
and its nutritional value drops.

The performance of a rice mill, in terms of milled rice

recovery and quality, not only depends on the type or
condition of the equipment and on the skill of the
operators, but is largely determined by the quality of the
rough rice (paddy) to be converted into milled rice.
 The rough rice is processed in different types of rice
mills in both the developing and the industrialized rice-
producing countries of the world. Basically two systems
are applied, namely, the conventional system and the
Japanese system; however, a mixture of the two is
frequently utilized. In case of superfine varieties,
dehusking through pealing action is preferred.
OPTIMUM STAGE OF HARVESTING

Harvesting is the process of collecting the mature crop from

the field. Harvesting of paddy includes cutting, stacking,
handling, threshing, cleaning and hauling of paddy. The goal of
good harvesting methods is to maximize grain yield, and to
minimize grain damage and quality deterioration. Regardless of
the method, a number of guidelines should be followed that will
ensure that grain quality is preserved during harvest operations
and harvest losses are kept to a minimum.
• Harvest at the right time and moisture content
• Avoid delays in threshing after harvesting
• Use the proper machine settings when using a
threshing machine
• Clean the grain properly after threshing
 Optimum time of harvesting is very important for
getting maximum paddy yield, good milling recovery and
high quality rice. A deviation of 5-10 days from this time
seriously affects the paddy yield as well as milling
recovery.

The optimum time for harvesting the crop is about 35

days after flowering and at moisture content of about 20-
22 %. This range of moisture content is indicated when
all the ears of paddy have turned yellow, except for a few
lower ones which are still green but are filled up with
grains.
DRYING

Paddy should be dried with minimum quality loss and

as quickly as possible. In high temperature dryers, this
is done by:

i) starting drying within 8 hours of harvest if grain

moisture is greater than 24% moisture,
ii) drying in several passes with limited amounts of
moisture removal depending on grain moisture,
iii) temper paddy for at least 2 hours after a drying
pass, but not long enough to cause off-odor
development caused by microbial activity,
Continuous-flow dryers

The continuous heated airflow dryers have become

quite popular. The most common type is called a column
dryer, Fig 1, where grain flows by gravity downward
between two screens, separated by 15-30 cm. Heated air
flows horizontally through the screens. (This dryer is
sometimes called a cross-flow dryer because the air
flows at a 90-degree angle to the flow of grains).
Metering rolls, at the bottom of the screens, control the
rate of grain flow through the dryer. Paddy is removed
from the metering rolls with screw conveyors. This type
of dryer has several disadvantages compared with
mixing-type dryers. Paddy tends to flow straight down
between the screens, without much horizontal
movement.
 This means that the grains close to the hot air plenum
is always exposed to the hottest air and dries more than
the grains next to the screen near the air exhaust. Also
grains next to the screens flows slower than the grains
in the middle between the two screens. This leads to
even more variability in the amount of drying
experienced by individual grains. Some dryer designs
include mixing sections to reduce moisture variability.
Commercial operators have found that finger-type
mixers are very effective in minimizing kernel-to-kernel
moisture variability.
 Two other types of dryers are designed to mix the
grains as it flows through the dryer. The baffle dryer (Fig
2) causes the grain to flow in a zigzag pattern and heated
air flows through openings between baffles. Distance
between baffles is generally about 15 cm. The LSU dryer
(Fig. 3) is a large rectangular solid with a series of
inverted V-shaped troughs running across the entire
width of the dryer. The grain flows downward past the
troughs, but dose not fill them.
The open space below each trough is used to
distribute heated air through the grains. Alternating
layers of troughs are used for air-supply or air-exhaust
channels. Air takes the shortest path from an air supply
duct through the grain to an exhaust duct. In some
designs the air supply troughs are oriented at a right
angle to the air exhaust troughs. Grains mix as it flows
around the air channels.
 The LSU type dryer costs significantly more than an
equivalent capacity column dryer primarily because of
the air pollution equipment needed to control particulate
emissions. Because of their higher cost few of these
dryers have been installed in recent years. Paddy is
subject to lower milling yields if it is dried too quickly.
Quality is maintained by drying in several 20 to 30
minute long passes through a dryer. Between passes,
rice is stored in temporary holding bins.
This is called tempering, which allows moisture to
equalize within kernels. Most of tempering is
accomplished in about four hours although drying
schedules often dictate that the paddy must be held for
about 24 hours between passes. Most paddy drying
operations use column dryers and carefully control the
amount of moisture removed per pass and count on
moisture equalization between kernels to reduce
moisture variability.
 A recirculating batch dryer is the most widely used
system in Asia. Paddy is loaded into the tempering
section and it slowly flows downward to the drying
section. After passing through the drying section, it is
returned to the tempering section and the process is
repeated until the batch of paddy is dry. The units
usually remove water at a rate of 0.6 to 1.0%/hr and have
holding capacities of 800 kg to 20 tonnes. Paddy can be
completely dried in a column dryer or dried to 16% to
18% and then finished with unheated air in flat storage or
perforated-floor grain bin. The two-stage system works
only if flat storage has adequate airflow for drying, which
is much greater than needed for storage aeration. Late
season drying in flat storage may be slow because of
low ambient air temperatures.
Measures to be taken before drying

Paddy should be brought to the dryer as quickly as

possible to prevent damage caused by microbial
(bacteria, yeasts, fungi, etc.) growth in wet grain. Wet
grain held too long may develop off-odors, off-flavor,
yellow kernels, and may even become contaminated with
toxins. Damage susceptibility related to grain moisture.
Grains with less than 21% moisture can be safely held
for 24 hours before drying begins. Paddy greater than
23% should never be held over night before unloading at
the drying facility. Paddy harvested at 25% moisture
should begin drying within 8 hours after harvest.
 The safe delay period is total time from actual
removal from the plant until the grain is exposed to
drying air. Commercially, this means that the drying
facility must be located within in an hour or two of the
field and harvest and drying operations must be closely
coordinated so that the paddy starts drying shortly after
it is received.

Wet grains should be aerated and cooled if it must be

held for more than 8 hours before drying. Paddy should
not be harvested at moistures greater than 25%. It is so
microbially active that it is difficult to start the drying
process quickly enough to prevent off-odor
development.
 Paddy at 25% moisture is also expensive to dry and
will probably not have any better head rice quality than it
would have if it were harvested at 21% to 23% moisture.

Pass paddy through a cleaner (scalper) to remove

foreign material before drying. Straw can collect in the
dryer and block grain flow. Fines reduce airflow and
concentrations of foreign material may cause hot spots
in storage. Some dryers are set up to clean the grains
after every pass through the dryer
Tempering

After passing through a high temperature dryer,

moisture within the kernel must be allowed to equalize.
Maximum head yield is obtained with four hours of
tempering at 40 C and with six hours of tempering at 25
C. Tempering also increases the amount of moisture
loss in subsequent passes. At higher moistures above
18% to 20%, maximum moisture loss is attained after 4
hours of tempering. At lower moistures, 12 or more
hours of tempering may be required for maximum
moisture loss. Although, there is only a small increase in
moisture removal caused by 12 hours versus four hours
of tempering.
 Harvest rates are high enough during the peak of the
season so that it is often necessary to store paddy in the
temping bins for more than 24 hours. At high grain
moistures, long tempering times may cause quality loss.
Aeration of tempering paddy will cool it and allow it to be
held for longer periods before damage occurs. Aeration
and complete cooling will reduce grain moisture by
about 1/2%. Unfortunately, most tempering bins are
quite tall and fan power is quite large for the airflow
needed for reasonable rates of grain cooling. Cooling
paddy before tempering is not recommended because it
reduces milling quality.
Fig 1. Schematic of air and paddy flow in non-mixing columnar
dryer
Fig 2. Schematic of air and paddy flow in baffle-type mixing
dryer
Fig. 3. Schematic of air and paddy flow in LSU dryer
Soft Drying for Super Fine Basmati Rice

Usually paddy is harvested at high moisture

content (18-25%) to get maximum yield and avoid
shattering losses, at the same time it needs to be dried
to safe moisture content (12-14%) for hulling. For large
processing units, where huge amount of paddy is
milled everyday, require fast drying mechanism, which
in turn cause cracks and fissures leading to breakage
during milling. A concept of soft drying, which is also
known as low temperature drying, is used in Japan to
avoid fissure development. In this process, low
moisture paddy husk is mixed with high moisture
paddy in 2:1 ratio and left for overnight for tempering.
 Paddy husk, being hygroscopic in nature, adsorbs
moisture from paddy till it reaches the hygroscopic
equilibrium. Thereafter, paddy husk is removed through
simple aspiration and sun dried for further use. In this,
moisture migrates at slow pace from interior of kernel
to its surface and later to husk.

Attempts were made to dry high moisture paddy

(21.2% wb) using dry husk of mc (6.1% wb) in 1:2
proportion. During this method of drying, it was
observed that the drying rate in first hour was greater
than second hour by 25% and subsequently reduced
and became more or less constant within 6 hours,
which reduces the crack/fissure development.
PROCESSING

Processing is one of the essential steps in the

treatment of rice. The main operation is separating the
rice grain from the hull and whitening the grains. It is
usually performed as two distinct operations: hulling
and rice whitening. The technical efficiency of
processing is measured by the amount of whole milled
rice obtained from the clean paddy rice. However, this
quantity does not only depend on the processing
methods but also on the paddy’s initial state (moisture
content, sun checks and other damages) and on the
variety of rice manifesting through L:B:T ratio.
Ø Cleaning: removes foreign objects, such as hay,
straw, stone, tree stump, and snail shell etc, from
the paddy.

Ø Dehusking: removes husks off cleaned paddy.

Once removed, brown rice is separated from the
husks through the ventilation process.

Ø Paddy separation: it is the separation of

unhusked paddy from brown rice by applying a
difference in gravitational pull and surface
friction, the unhusked paddy, then is passed
through dehusking process
Ø Milling: strips off the bran layer from brown rice.
The bran layer is removed by air ventilation,
which sucks in the bran layer. This process
usually takes 2 to 3 cycles, depending on the
required milling degree. Excessive removal of
bran layer through whitening is discouraged.

Ø Grading: separates milled rice (mixture of

different sizes: whole grain, head rice, and
broken rice) by a sieve grader. The finished rice
will be stored separately according to its grade
and the rice is ready for delivery.
Milling

In the process of removing the husk from paddy,

force has to be applied. More force is required during
removal of various layers, which make up the bran
polish. This inevitably causes breakage of some of the
grains even in the best cases and in bad ones it can
break every grain. Because of the way in which rice is
usually eaten, the breaking of the grain is undesirable,
detracting from quality and value.
Factors influencing milling breakage

Milling of rice and the factors influencing it are

important technological considerations in the
processing of rice for the market. More than the type of
mill, the pre-milling conditions mostly determine the
milling quality. Inappropriate conditions of drying,
moisture content, chalkiness, infestation and
temperature cause increased breakage in raw rice
during milling. But in parboiled rice, it is the manner of
drying that influences much the extent of breakage.
Hulling

Hulling is performed with different types of machines:

rubber roll, disk, rubber-belt and roll huskers. The first
machine was composed of two horizontal rubber rolls
placed tangentially and rotating in opposite directions at
different speeds (1:1.25). This differential speed causes
friction at the hull surface and the latter is stripped from
the grain. The separation of the hulls from the brown rice
is done through aspiration. Roll gap (1.4 mm) is adjusted
according to the size of the paddy rice to be hulled. In a
single passage only 85-90% of the paddy rice is hulled: un-
hulled paddy grains are removed from brown rice using a
paddy separating table that separates according to volume
and specific mass. After sorting, the un-hulled grains are
sent back to the husker.
Centrifugal sheller: In the centrifugal sheller, the paddy is
thrown against a removable resilient surface and the
resultant impact splits the husk. The friction between the
husk and resilient lining removes the brown rice out of
the split husk. Brown rice could be polished with a
centrifugal sheller by using an impact liner with an
abrasive surface. But to achieve the desired milling
degree, either the products should be passed through
the machine many times or large number of units should
be installed. The impeller and the resilient surface
(rubber band) housed in casing can be fixed in such a
way as to operate the impeller vertically or horizontally. A
blower and a reciprocating sieve can be attached at the
discharge end of the impeller housing for blowing off the
husk and to remove small impurities.
Rubber roll sheller: The shelling components consist of
two closely spaced rubber rollers, rotating in opposite
directions and at different speeds. A shearing action is
created on paddy by contact with the rubber rollers
operating with a differential displacement action, which
strips off the husk from the grain. Rubber roll shellers of
different capacities are available. Its shelling efficiency
(percentage of paddy getting shelled) is about 85 percent
and with graded paddy up to 95 percent. After blowing
off the husk, the unshelled paddy is separated in paddy
separators and recycled through the sheller. Because of
the resilient nature of the rubber rolls, neither the bran
layers of the brown rice get damaged nor sound kernels
break during dehusking operation.
 Due to these two advantages, the rubber roll sheller is
considered the best among the shelling equipment and it
is now widely used throughout the world. The advantage
of this type of dehusker is its ease of adjustment and its
ability to produce little broken rice. The inconvenience is
rapid wearing of the rubber rolls after the passage of 100-
200 tonnes of paddy (depending on the degree of
cleaning).
Rice Whitening

The purpose of rice whitening to completely remove the

pericarp and testa and more or less of the aleurone layer
and germ from brown rice. Pearling cones or horizontal
roller mills are used.

Two principles are behind the whitening of rice. First

the scouring of grains against emery surface and second
the friction between the rice grains. Some machines
combine both principles of pearling cones and horizontal
roller mils. Rice, unlike wheat has a deep crease on its
surface. Thus scouring can remove all the unwanted rice
bran layers from the outside toward the inside,
something impossible to do with wheat.
Pearling cones are essentially composed of a metallic
cone trunk covered with a scouring layer and rotating
inside a metal enclosure also shaped like a cone. The
axis that leads the cone rests on a step bearing
adjustable in height that regulates the distance between
the moving and the fixed parts. Rubber brakes ledging
out to the cone are fit onto the metallic conical enclosure.
Theses brakes avoid the endless rotation of grains. The
distance between the cone and the brakes is adjustable
and must be such that the mass of grains decelerates
and still passes through the cone being supplied from
the top.
 Optimal whitening is obtained through as moderate-
as-possible elimination of the pericarp, testa and parts of
the aleurone layer and germ. The scouring of these
tissues leads to the production of deep milled rice or low-
grade flours in different yields depending on rice
varieties and on the machines adjustment. The level of
extraction can be more or less elaborate. Complete
whitening, depending on varieties, is attained for levels
of extraction (compared to cargo rice) between 6 and
9.5% and of only 3-4% for the partial whitening of rice.
 The cones scouring surface is made of a mixture of
three products: emery, cement and magnesium chloride
and sometimes carborandum. The fineness of emery is
variable. It is coarser in the first cone than in all the
others. In order to maintain the scouring surface, it is
usually treated with a special roulette. When it becomes
worn out is must be replaced with a new layer to avoid
breaking the grains.

The cone enclosure can be made from metallic cloth

or perforated metal sheets. Metallic cloths damage the
rice more. The deep-milled rice flour that goes through
the metal sheets openings leaves the pearling cone by
lateral channels. A rotating scraper that sweeps the base
of the casing eases this. The hardest part of the using
pearling cones is the adjustment, surveillance and
replacement of the scouring surfaces.
Specialized personnel are needed who are hard to find.
When properly adjusted, pearling cones give good
results especially in the case of parboiled rice, which is
harder than other raw rice. The cargo rice industry uses
horizontal roller mills that are simpler to adjust and more
easily maintained.

Two types of horizontal roller mills are used for

whitening the scouring type and the friction type. With
the scouring type, rice whitening occurs with the passing
of rice grains between the scouring roll and the metal
grid. A metal counterweight door at the exit regulates the
forward speed of the rice in the machine and
consequently the degree of whitening.
In this system exclusively the scouring grains on the
scouring roll whose rotational speed can reach 1,300
rev/min depending on the model being used do
whitening. Using a stream of cool air passing through the
roll lets out the heat generated by the internal grain
pressure. If this heat were not let out, the grain texture
would degenerate, resulting in the production of low-
grade rice flour. Scouring rolls are designed to resist
wear more efficiently than pearling cones. The scouring
particles that compose them are given a thermal
treatment that keeps them cleaner. Once worn out, the
rolls must be replaced.
 Generally, rice is not whitened completely using one
machine, two are needed. This maintains the pressure
inside the chamber and reduces grain cleavage. Certain
manufacturers have improved the machines efficiency
by using two superimposed scouring rolls to reduce the
jamming of rice. For water contents close to 15%, the
stickier low-grade flour rapidly clogs the metal sheeting
and does not escape. Grains abnormally progress inside
the chamber and the entire machine becomes
obstructed. If the moisture of parboiled rice is close to
12.5% it is then possible to use this machine although
the resulting level of broken rice will certainly increase
due to the grains’ weakened water content.
 With the friction-type horizontal roller mill, whitening
is obtained from the friction between the grains. They
circulate as a thick layer between a helix-grooved roll
and a metal grid. An injection of cool air through the roll
cools the whitening chamber as well as the rice grains in
it and blows the low-grade flour out through the grid.
The degree of whitening is regulated by a metallic
counter weight door at the end of the roll that controls
the forward pressure and speed of the rice within the
chamber as well as the inflow of brown rice. This
machine can produce enough white rice in a single
processing and is frequently used in this manner.
 However, two machines working in series allow more
progressive whitening and a sensible reduction of rice
cleavage. It can also be used in series after a scouring-
type horizontal roller mill. This is recommended for the
whitening of parboiled rice whose low-grade flour is
extremely sticky. The machine is very robust and needs
very little maintenance.

A German manufacturer has recently developed a

new generation of whitening machines. This machine is
a horizontal whitening cone and tries to combine the
advantages of both the vertical pearling cone and the
horizontal roller mill. A scouring cone whose large base
is 330 mm in diameter is made up of an assembly of
three carborandum-covered and slightly conical disks.
 The whole setup rotates at 750 rev/min in a chamber
made form a metallic grid fit with three metallic, circular
and adjustable brakes. The entire linkage is streamlined
and has three ventilation pipes for the deep-milled rice
flour and the moist air of the chamber. Brown rice comes
in from the side of the cone having the smallest
diameter.
The degree of whitening can be modified by playing
on the spacing between the cones and the grid, on the
position of the brakes in the chamber and on the
adjustment of the counterweight at the escape trap for
the white rice. Just as is the case for most whitening
machines, it is possible to place two or more machines
in series to have a more progressive procedure and to
avoid grain damage or clogging. This machinery appears
to have made progress with respect to the existing
system.
Grading

The mixture of whole and broken rice grains must be

separated in conformity with the standards of the
finished product. These standards differ from one
country to the next. Generally, a separation using a plan
sifter to divide the various kinds of damaged rice grains
(rice chips, broken sand chops) from the various whole
grains (round, medium, long) is the first step. Then the
different classes of whole grains still containing a small
ratio of broken rice are led to a cylindrical indented
surface separator or to a disk intended surface grader.
 The first kind of separator is composed of slightly
inclined cylinders rotating about their own axis, the
internal surfaces being indented. The product to be
sorted circulates in the cylinder toward the slant and the
indentation fill up with grains of determined lengths,
which are collected by a trough at the top. The cavities
are adapted to the size of the product to be separated.
Rice Polishing

Depending on the mode of whitening, the

varieties used and the use planned for the final product,
rice can be polished. This additional treatment
produces a shinier grain of rice by rubbing down the
scores caused by whitening machines and by removing
any trace of flour.

Polishing machines look a lot like vertical pearling

cones or horizontal roller mills except that in this case,
the scouring layer is replaced by a roll covered with
sheep skin, flannel and leather strips and a grid whose
metal threading is not square but round. These
machines run on low energy and do not damage the
rice grains.
Jet Polishing

The jet polisher is a machine that is used for the last

pass of the rice. Its objective is to remove the final part
of the bran layer and simultaneously cool the grain
through an air-stream of ambient temperature.

It consists mainly of a horizontal, partly hollow,

perforated shaft on which a cast steel cylinder with
friction ridges is clamped. Just behind the two ridges,
the cylinder has a long opening that allows the passage
of air. This cylinder runs in a hexagonal chamber
consisting of two half hexagonal perforated screens
with slotted perforations.
 A feeding screw mounted on the solid part of the
horizontal shaft feeds the rice into the press chamber
of the machine. Here a centrifugal blower through the
hollow shaft and the openings of the cast steel cylinder
builds up a counter pressure. The air passes through
the rice that is rolling under pressure in the chamber of
the pearler and removes the free bran as it leaves the
machine and can be adjusted by an air sleeve mounted
at the air intake side of the blower.
Pearling of Rice

In some countries, there is a special demand for

glazed rice. Glazed rice is one that appears shinier and
more transparent because the surface is coated with a
thin layer of talc and glucose. The glazing process is
more effective on rice that is already transparent by
nature than on rice that is chalky or has a white belly.
Normally only head rice is glazed; however, seldom is
the full head rice production of a rice mill passed
through the glazing plant. Therefore, glazing
installations have a capacity that is normally much
smaller than the head rice production of a rice mill.
 Glazing equipment is not installed as a section of
the rice mill but is installed as an independent unit in a
separate building or location. The main machine in the
glazing plant is a large, horizontal, rotating glazing
drum.

Rice is normally glazed in batches. The glazing

drum is partly loaded with rice and is slowly rotated.
White shiny talc powder and a glucose solution are
then added to the rice.
 About 1-1.2% by weight of the dry talc powder is
required (10-12 kg of talc for 1000 kg of the head rice).
Glucose is added to the rice as a 1:1 solution with water
that is thoroughly mixed and, if possible, slightly
heated. The glucose solution is either added drop wise
or by a spray mechanism. About a 10% glucose
solution is required (100 kg solution for 1000 kg of rice).
In the final step of the process, the water is evaporated
and the glucose and talc remain sticking to the surface
of the rice grain. Consequently, from 1000 kg of milled
rice, about 1060 kg of glazed rice is produced.
Solvent Extraction Milling (SEM)

The SEM process differs from conventional rice

milling in the method of bran-removal and in the
processing by-products. Conventional rice milling uses
abrasion and / or frictional pressure to remove the
other layers of bran from the rice kernel. With SEM
process, the bran layers are first softened, then wet
milled in the presence of a rice oil-hexane miscella. In
addition to milled rice, by-products produced by SEM
process include crude rice oil and defatted rice bran.
 Paddy with 10-14% moisture content is cleaned and
shelled. Shelling must be 100% for an effective result.
The shelled rice is treated with 0.5% warm rice oil held
for a period of 2-4h to allow the rice oil to permeate the
bran membrane and soften them. After this treatment,
the shelled rice is pearled where in and outflow of
miscella is provided at a controlled temperature. The
miscella acts as a conveying medium for continuously
transporting the removed bran away from the rice.
Miscella also acts as lubricant and prevent temperature
rise of rice minimizing breakage.
 Following the bran removal step, solvent adhering
to rice is removed, first using superheated hexane
vapour and later by streaming the rice with flowing
inert gas. Rice is then sized, graded and packaged
using conventional rice milling equipment.

The SEM rice is whiter and more attractive and has

lower fat content. Taste and smell are about the same
as regular milled rice. Lower fat content contributes to
excellent storage stability. Increase in total and head
rice yields to the extent of 2% and 10% respectively are
possible.
 Another merit of SEM process is that crude rice oil
and defatted rice bran are directly produced. Economic
advantages accrue due to greater efficiency in the
separation of the products of milling and the increased
yield of higher priced products. The demerits of SEM
process are its high capital and operating costs. SEM is
a sophisticated process and requires careful operation
and more technical knowledge on part of the operator.
Colour Sorting

The presence in edible rice of partially or entirely

discolored grains has not yet been studied from the
nutritional point of view. It is certain, however, that the
more these are, the lower the commercial value of the
rice, to the extent that in some countries consumers
refuse to buy rice with discolored grains. When
differences in shape, size and weight make these grains
impossible to remove by mechanical means, such as
sieving or grading by thickness or length, etc., they have
to be sorted manually. This is obviously very costly,
especially in industrially developed countries where
labour shortages make it quite impractical in any case.
The only way to produce edible rice, which is free, or
almost free, from discolored grains, when hand sorting
is impossible, is to use colour-sorting machines.
 For separating work, however, recently built
machines use a stream of pressurized air, which knocks
the grain aside from its path. Improvements made to
these machines have brought about a continuous rise in
sorting speeds and in output, but this rise is only partly
a result of improved feeding, scanning and separation
techniques; it is the combination of several working
groups or units incorporated into a single machine that
increases output according to the number of units.
 Great emphasis has been placed on automation and
there are only two controls. One governs that feed rate
and the other controls sensitivity so that the operator
can adjust the reject rate at the push of a button. Once
set, the microprocessors ensure that the level of
separation remains constant. The machine continuously
monitors itself to ensure that background and lighting
levels, as well as feed rate and sensitivity, remain the
same. Cleaning of the viewing area is automatic and is
carried out when necessary by means of wiper. Any
faults are also diagnosed automatically.
Packaging

Milled rice, the final product for marketing is

packaged in polyethylene, propylene or jute sacks in
weights ranging from 1 kg to 100 kg depending upon
whether the market is for retail or wholesale or for
export.

Higher quality rice normally retailed in special

groceries and supermarkets are packed in attractively
labeled packages made of polyethylene, propylene, jute
and paper bags or cardboard boxes. Brown rice, which
has a special market, is packed in sealed polyethylene
bag inside the cardboard box or the outer bag.
 This is to increase the shelf life of the grain, which is
prone to rapid rancidity due to the free fatty acid in the
bran. Rice is retailed in small stores and displayed in
their original large sized or in wooden bins and labeled
as to variety and price per unit weight or volume as may
be required by law in some developing countries. In this
case, purchased rice is weighed or measured and
packed in plastic bags or other container brought in by
the customer.
CONCLUSION

Once the paddy has left the farm, it enters the domain
of the post-production sector. The people involved in
the post-production sector are not usually farmers
themselves. They are entrepreneurs who invest in
technology. In Asia, most work as part of a small family
business. The key players in the post-production sector
are the traders, the processors, the wholesalers and the
retailers. These entrepreneurs are profit driven, and
respond to market forces. They form a business
network, and the marketing economists view this
network as a marketing system. The post-production
technologies are the tools of their trade.
 The development of technology to process rice and
deliver it from the farmers to the consumers, has not
kept pace with the developments in the farm production
sector. In last few decades, rice-processing industry has
grown up exponentially in terms of facilities and quality
output. But at the same time, under-utilization of plant
capacity does not make this enterprise more
remunerative to small entrepreneurs. Modern rice plants
are well equipped with latest technology whether it is
cleaning, drying, milling, colour sorting, packaging etc.,
and are in position to export both basmati and non-
basmati superfine rice to Gulf as well as other countries
of the world.
 There are modern rice processing companies in India
which are not only producing high quality basmati rice
for export but these are also making efficient use of its
by-product to make these units more sustainable. There
is a need to educate people or persons who are directly
involved with post-production management of rice to
use latest energy efficient technologies to produce
product or by-product from rice varieties at reasonable
price. These mills are largely power self sufficient and
produce rice bran which itself is very valuable by-
product for extraction of rice bran oil (RBO) and other
derivatives some of which are of highly value for
pharma applications.