The Quantized Characterization of Cooked Rice Hardness and Research on the Automatic Measurement Technology

Abstract

The hardness of cooked rice is one of the most important criteria which determine the rice quality. The commonly used near-infrared reflectance (NIR) method is still in argument due to its indirectness and possible error. In this paper, a mechanical method was proposed and its principle, automation, components and operative reliability were evaluated and compared with the NIR method. The results showed that the mechanical testing method can accurately detect the rice quality and were consistent with the NIR testing data. This new mechanical method can be effectively used in rice quality testing and branding with the advantage of simplicity, accuracy and reliability.