Reconstituted Rice Kernels with Embedded Micronutrients
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for fortifying rice with micronutrients face challenges such as vitamin segregation, cooking instability, and nutrient loss due to harsh heating conditions, making it difficult to create a universally applicable, stable, and effectively enriched rice kernel-like food product suitable for various rice varieties.
Innovation Solution
A process involving dry heat treatment, comminution, hydration with emulsifiers and steam, semigelatinization under shear force, and subsequent drying to produce extruded rice kernels that embed micronutrients, ensuring stability and retention during cooking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If artificial rice kernels are prepared by extrusion with fast-cooking conditions, then processing time is reduced, but the kernels disintegrate during cooking and release micronutrients to cooking water
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by controlling the gelatinization temperature range (60-90°C) and moisture content (25-35%) during extrusion to achieve semigelatinization rather than full gelatinization. This creates a matrix with optimal cooking stability that prevents kernel disintegration while retaining micronutrients, resolving the contradiction between processing efficiency and cooking stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite materials by combining rice flour with specific binders (starch, protein, or polysaccharide) to create an extruded matrix with enhanced structural integrity. This composite structure maintains kernel stability during cooking while allowing controlled micropore formation for nutrient retention, addressing the disintegration issue without sacrificing processing efficiency.
2Speed
If harsh heating conditions are applied to gelatinize starch, then cooking speed is improved, but vitamin loss increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing semigelatinization during the extrusion process itself, rather than requiring separate high-temperature cooking steps. The micronutrients are embedded in the semigelatinized matrix before final product formation, protecting them from degradation while achieving adequate starch gelatinization for cooking speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the temperature parameter from conventional high-temperature gelatinization (>90°C) to a lower range (60-90°C) during extrusion. This parameter modification achieves sufficient starch gelatinization while minimizing vitamin degradation, resolving the contradiction between cooking speed and nutrient retention.
3Reliability
If rice is rinsed and cooked for extended periods, then cooking completeness is improved, but micronutrient stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the nesting principle by embedding micronutrients within the extruded rice kernel matrix, which itself is composed of gelatinized starch and binder. This nested structure protects micronutrients from leaching during rinsing and cooking, maintaining their stability while allowing complete cooking of the rice kernel.
4Ease of manufacture
If artificial kernels are made with expanded structure, then density is reduced for easier processing, but they separate easily from natural rice grains
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the density parameter by controlling extrusion conditions to produce kernels with density similar to natural rice grains rather than highly expanded structures. This is achieved by optimizing moisture content (25-35%) and gelatinization temperature (60-90°C), ensuring stable mixing with natural rice while maintaining ease of manufacture through the extrusion process.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The process results in rice kernels with embedded micronutrients that maintain stability and nutritional content, providing a feasible method for enriching different rice varieties with enhanced cooking stability and minimal vitamin loss.
Implementation Method 1
a) dry heat treatment of the rice matrix (pre-treatment step)
Implementation Method 2
c) adding at least one emulsifier and water and/or steam to the comminuted rice matrix material to obtain a paste
Implementation Method 3
e) exposing the paste obtained in the preceding steps to shear force while heating it to about 70 to 100 °C for no more than about 5 minutes until the rice starch is semigelatinized
Implementation Method 4
f) forming the semigelatinized mass to strands and cutting them to obtain grains similar or equal to the size of rice grains
Implementation Method 5
g) drying the grains to a moisture content of no more than 15 wt.-%
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a rice-based rice kernel-like food product, especially to reconstituted rice enriched with one or more micronutrients (hereinafter referred to as "enriched reconstituted rice kernels") and to said enriched reconstituted rice kernels obtainable by that process.