Introduction to Facilities
Rice Milling Equipment at Kubota Rice Industry
The majority of the Japanese rice that is consumed overseas is milled where it has been grown in Japan before it is transported and sold.
However, the ideal time to eat rice is immediately after milling it. The quality deteriorates as time passes after the milling and the taste value declines.
To avoid this problem, Kubota Rice Industry (HAWAII) has installed professional rice milling equipment from Japan. By installing this equipment in Hawaii, it is possible to transport the rice in the brown rice state and then mill it immediately before selling and delivering it to customers.
* Results of Testing to Judge Rice Freshness (Nouminren Food Research Laboratory pH Evaluation Method Kit) *
- The test agent is added to cause a reaction.
Fresh rice produces a green color. Rice which has passed over time changes to orange color because of oxidation. - Three months after the milling of the rice, it can be seen that the oxidation has progressed.
- This result also shows that it is recommendable to eat rice as quickly as possible after it has been milled.
Professional Rice Milling Equipment for Commercial Use
Although we just say “rice milling,” this can refer to a wide variety of equipment, ranging from devices for household use and simple rice milling machine for store use all the way up to commercial rice milling equipment that has sophisticated quality control functions.
Of course, there are great differences in the performance levels of these different rice milling machine and naturally this affects how delicious the rice is after it has been cooked.
The rice that is harvested from a rice field will include a percentage of defective rice that will affect the quality of the cooking results, such as colored rice and broken rice. In order to supply delicious rice, it is necessary to reliably remove this defective rice.
Kubota Rice Industry (HAWAII) has installed all the equipment necessary to perform high quality rice milling. This includes color sorting equipment to remove colored rice and equipment to remove small rice, which has a detrimental effect on the taste of the cooked rice. This equipment enforces rice milling quality at the same level or even greater than those produced in Japan.
① Impurities sorter
A stone, glass, chaff, etc. which are mixed in brown rice are removed.
② Milling Machine
Milled holding quality with the lowtemperature rice-milling technology which KUBOTA is proud of.
③ Brocken Rice sorter
Small rice and broken rice are removed.
④ Optical color sorter
Coloring rice, impurities, etc. are removed with an optical sorter.
⑤ Auto Packer
An automatic measurement and bag stuffing.
Additional efforts are made to stabilize the milled rice quality, such as with a taste meter to score and display the deliciousness of the rice and a whiteness meter to maintain stable rice milling quality. We have also installed various inspection equipment such as radiation measuring equipment as we are aiming for safe and reliable production.
With all this equipment and the full strength of Kubota Group and its deep involvement in agriculture, we will supply Japanese rice to the Hawaii market in its most delicious state.