Rice fortification stands as a beacon of innovation in the realm of food science, offering a potent solution to address malnutrition and its associated health challenges worldwide. At its core, rice fortification involves the deliberate addition of essential vitamins and minerals to rice grains, thereby enriching its nutritional profile and ensuring that it serves as more than just a source of calories.The process of fortifying rice is a delicate balance of science and nutrition. It begins with the careful selection of essential nutrients that are often lacking in traditional rice varieties. Key among these are iron, folic acid, vitamin A, and other B vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. These nutrients play pivotal roles in vital bodily functions, ranging from red blood cell formation to immune system support and neurological health.Fortifying rice involves incorporating these vital nutrients into the rice grains themselves. This can be achieved through various techniques such as coating the grains with a nutrient-rich powder or incorporating the nutrients into the rice during the milling process. Each method is meticulously designed to ensure uniform distribution of nutrients throughout the rice, thereby guaranteeing that every serving provides a consistent and reliable source of essential vitamins and minerals.
2. Introduction
Rice Fortification
Need for fortifying rice in India
Production of fortified rice kernel(FRK)
Production of blended fortified rice
Instructions for safety and hygiene in production area
Quality Assurance
Packaging and Dispatch of fortified rice
Latest news
Limitations
conclusion
OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION
3. Rice is the world’s second most commonly consumed
cereal grain.
Recommended vitamins and minerals to fortify rice include
the micronutrients removed during processing.
Fortifcation with multiple micronutrients is recommended,
as micronutrient defciencies often coexist.
Rice is consumed as a whole kernel, which complicates the
fortifcation process
Hence ,it requires appropriate quality assurance and
quality control, as well as monitoring, throughout the rice
fortifcation process to ensure that standards are met .
INTRODUCTION
4. It is defined as the enrichment of rice with addition
of essential micronutrients like vitamins and
minerals after post harvest processing to increase
its nutritional value.
Rice Fortification
5. About 65% India’s population consumes rice as staple food.
Rice is a large source of calories and core component of
agriculture and nutrition in most of India though low in
micronutrients.
Milling of rice removes the fat and micronutrient rich bran
layers to produce the commonly consumed starch white rice.
Polishing further removes 74-90% of vitamin B1, vitamin B6,
vitamin E and Niacin.
Fortifying rice provides an opportunity to add back the lost
micronutrients but to also add others such as iron, zinc, folic
acid, vitamin B12 .
Need for fortifying rice in India
6. Rice Fortification:- A two-step
process
Production of fortified
rice kernel(FRK)
Production of
blended fortified rice
7. A) Raw material selection:-The important step in making good
fortified rice is the selection of appropriate raw material.
Major ingredients include:-
1) Rice flour
2) Addition of Pre-mixed vitamins, iron , folic acid
3) Addn. of emulsifier/Acid regulator/Antioxidant
4)Water
Rice flour:- Clean broken rice at an initial moisture content of 11-12%
is grinded to rice flour . Rice flour is very hygroscopic in nature and
hence the raw material and final produce is handled properly.
Production of fortified rice kernel(FRK)
8. Addition of vitamin and minerals:-
Composition of vitamins and mineral
premix has to meet the recommended
specifications as Food Safety Standards
Regulations for fortification of rice.
Emulsifier/Acid regulator/Antioxidant:
Pentasodium triphosphate IS 451 or citric
acid IS 330 shall be used as per
allowances.
Water:- Water is used in manufacturing
of fortified rice as a solute which
penetrate the starch structure of flour
and helps in gelatinization of starch and
used for mixing of ingredients.
Raw material selection for FRK
Fortified Rice
9. Production methods of FRK
1.Dusting 2.Coating
3.Extrusion
Hot
Extrusion
Cold
Extrusion
10. Dusting the rice grains with the powder form of the
micronutrient premix.
Fortificants will stick to grain surface because of the
electrostatic forces produced between rice grain and
micronutrients.
This rice should not be rinsed and cooked in excessive
amounts of water as enrichment and other water soluble
vitamins and minerals will be lost.
So this technology is not appropriate in developing
countries where rice is washed and rinsed before cooking.
Dusting
11. It is one of the oldest method to prevent micronutrient
losses through washing.
It involves addition of high concentrations of micronutrients
to a fraction of rice and subsequently coat the rice kernels
with resistant coatings.
Fortification mix and liquid made of waxes, acids , starches,
gums(e.g., Agar) is sprayed onto the surface of rice kernels
in several layers with the help of drums and are dried in
same drums using hot air currents.
But these coatings are removed by cooking rice with excess
of water.
So this is not an appropriate method in developing
countries.
Coating
12. Extrusion process is the modern and one of the best method for
the production of Fortified rice kernel.
Extrusion is one of the most critical process of the entire
Fortified rice kernel production process.
An uniformly hydrated mixture with set moisture content
obtained from the mixing step is passed through a
preconditioner, where steam is used to achieve partial
gelatinization of starch.
On successfully passing out of preconditioner, the hydrated
mixture passes through the twin-screw extruder where it is
partially cooked .
It takes shape of tiny pallets similar to the shape and size of
normal rice grains.
EXTRUSION
13. Hot Extrusion
Dough(Rice flour, fortificant
mix, emulsifier, water)
Extrusion(single or twin screw
extruder at 70-110 degrees)
Cutting
Drying
Blending with polished
rice
They share
similar
properties
with natural
grains like
(transparency
, shine,
consistency,
flavor)
14. Cold Extrusion
Dough( Rice flour, fortificant mix,
emulsifier, water)
Extrusion below 70 degrees
Cutting
Drying
Blending with polished rice
They are
opaque
and
slightly
off color
15. Produced fortified rice kernels cannot be consumed directly,
due to this we have to blend the FRK with normal polished
rice.
Blended fortified rice is produced by blending Fortified rice
kernels(FRK) with Polished raw rice or Parboiled rice.
Fortified rice kernels are blended with raw rice in the ratio
of 1:100 respectively.
Blending can be either done by:
Batch blending Process
Continuous blending Process
Production of blended Fortified rice
16. The typical process consists of two hoppers of which one is filled
with FRK and the other is with regular rice.
These two hoppers will be connected to a dosing system which
will be controlling the grain flow and feeding to the blender.
The dosing system feeds the rice in ratio of 1:100 to the blender.
After blending, the blended Fortified rice will be taken out for
packing from the outlet which is controlled by a gate valve.
The entire system can be controlled using a Programmable Logic
Controller (PLC) making the process an automatic one.
But the only thing is, level of automation increases the cost of the
blending system.
Batch blending Process
18. Continuous blending process
• This system can be integrated using a dosing system to dose the FRK in
required quantities before the regular rice enters into the graders.
• This method is a continuous feeding method and can help to increase the
productivity while maintaining the uniformity of the blend.
• To obtain the uniform blending, the vibratory feeder should discharge the
fortified grain to match the flow of regular rice in the rice grading cylinder.
• The continuous blending mechanism using the existing infrastructure such
as cylindrical graders, diversion valves and silos will require only dosing
system to integrate in the rice mill setup.
• The dosing system installation ranges from Rs.5-15 lakhs based on the type
of dosing equipment and the level of automation.
19. Choice of blending systems
When selecting the blenders, available blenders should be evaluated based on
several criteria, including existing set-up of the operations, current throughput
of the line where the fortification needs to be integrated:
1. Choice of continuous/batch blending depends on the ease to integrate the
equipment to current settings and choice of operations
2. Rice mill capacity
3. Cost of equipment and its operational cost
4. Operational ease
5. Effectiveness of blend, precision mixing; time of blending
6. Gentle mixing
7. The blending unit should ensure that the FRKs are not broken in the process
8. Maintenance and operational costs
20. Quality Assurance
• Grain shape ( rice like or not)
• Appearance ( off color or not)
• Odor
• Grain strength
• Moisture content
• Cooking Quality
• Broken content
21. Packaging and Dispatch
• After the Quality assurance results, the final product
shall be dispatched from the manufacturing facility
to the warehousing facility.
• Packaging Material used:-
polypropylene bags, jute bags
etc.
23. Latest News
• Emphasising that malnutrition is a “hurdle” in the development of women
and children, Prime Minister Narendra Modi , on 15th august
announced fortification of rice distribution under various government
schemes including Public Distribution System (PDS) and Mid-Day-Meal scheme
by 2024.
• Addressing the nation from the Red Fort on the 75th Independence Day, Modi
said, “Raashan kee dukaan par milane vaala chaaval ho, Mid-Day-Meal mein
baalakon ko milane vaala chaaval ho, varsh 2024 tak har yojana ke maadhyam
se milane vaala chaaval fortified kar diya jaayega.
24. Limitations
• Lack of knowledge.
• Technological issues.
• High cost of Production.
• Cannot be consumed by all the members of targeted
population.
• Often fail to reach poorest segment of population.
• There is possibility of over-consumption of a nutrients by
particular groups.
25. Conclusion
• Rice Fortification can make a significant contribution to
adressing micronutrient deficiences.
• Hot extrusion can be a great technology for rice fortification.
• Current technology can produce fortified rice that is safe,
looks and tastes similar to regular rice.
• It has great potential for public health impact when it is
mandated and well regulated.
• It will reduce nutrition related disorders.
