Development of New Processing Technology and for Dehydrated Cooked Rice its Application to Emergency Food in Japan

Dehydrated cooked rice is a type of pre-gelatinized rice product that can be reconstituted into cooked rice by simply adding boiling water or water. Due to its ease of preparation and long shelf life, dehydrated cooked rice has recently been used as emergency food for disaster prevention stockpiles in Japan. As people's demands for emergency food continue to rise, it is necessary to develop dehydrated cooked rice with shorter reconstitution time, longer shelf life, and better taste. In order to meet this demand, Japan's Satake Corporation has developed a new dehydrated cooked rice processing technology and put it into production. The new process mainly includes steps such as pressure cooking of raw rice, rice cooking and swelling, and rapid drying. After pressure cooking, the raw rice turns into cooked rice with a moisture content of 65%-70%. After evenly sprayed water on this cooked rice, it expands into high-moisture rice with a moisture content of 75%-80%, and then is rapidly dried. Dehydrated cooked rice processed using this new technology not only has a good texture but also can be reconstituted in 7 min, with a shelf life extended to 7 years. The newly developed dehydrated cooked rice offers enhanced corvenience and palatability, making it suitable both as daily consumption and rolling stock food for Japanese household reserves.