Effect of low-pressure plasma on physico-chemical properties of parboiled rice

- Low pressure plasma treatment of rice based on radio frequency.
- Contact angle and SEM micrographs of plasma treated rice revealed the surface etching of rice.
- No adverse changes in quality of parboiled rice.
- Improvement of cooking properties of rice with plasma treatment.

Cold plasma is one of the emerging novel technologies in the food processing sector due to the ability of plasma to manipulate surface properties without deterring the product quality. The aim of our research is to study the effect of low pressure cold plasma on proximate composition, cooking and textural properties of parboiled rice under various treatment time and power. It was found that low pressure cold plasma increased the water absorption of parboiled rice and could reduce the cooking time upto 8 min. Textural properties were improved after treatment as hardness and stickiness decreased with increase in power and time. Also the surface morphological changes in parboiled rice were investigated using contact angle, surface energy measurements and SEM micro-graphs. After low pressure cold plasma treatment the surface energy of parboiled rice increased and contact angle decreased. We could conclude that low pressure cold plasma treatment improves cooking properties and quality of parboiled rice.