Influence of Gaseous Environment on Hermetic Storage of Brown Rice

Abstract

The changes of chemical constituent, microbial counting and sensory evaluation of brown rice stored under various condition were investigated. When compared with the control of ordinary package under atmospheric pressure, the nitrogen-atmosphere package caused slightly more fat acidity of the brown rice than the control did at any temperature of storage for two years. However the rice stored in nitrogen, particularly in low temperature range, was superior to the control in air in respect to the palatability. There was no remarkable difference in the quality between the rices srored in nitrogen or carbon dioxide. However the brown rice stored in a container with carbon dioxide under elevated pleasure showed the apparent increase of reducing sugar and reduction of germination rate and palatability in comparison with the brown rice stored in a nitrogen-container. The number of aerobic bacteria may be a quality indicator of brown rice since the levels of the bacteria was highly related to the palatability.