Fortified and Reconstituted Rice Line

Short answer: A fortified and reconstituted rice line mixes rice or other grain flour with water and a nutrient premix, extrudes it into kernels shaped like rice, then dries, cools and grades them. The fortification recipe, the kernel shape needed to blend with ordinary rice, and how the kernels must behave when cooked decide whether a cold-forming or cooked-extrusion route fits.

How it works

1. Flour preparation – broken rice or other grains are milled to flour.
2. Mixing and dosing – flour, water and the vitamin and mineral premix are weighed and mixed evenly.
3. Extrusion and cutting – the mix is formed through a die with rice-shaped openings and cut at the die face.
4. Drying – kernels are dried in stages to a stable moisture without cracking.
5. Cooling and grading – kernels are cooled and screened to remove fines and oversized pieces.
6. Blending and packing – fortified kernels are packed, or blended with ordinary rice at the agreed ratio and packed.

Which configuration fits

Form	Suits	Watch out for
Low-temperature forming	Heat-sensitive nutrients	Softer kernels, more breakage when cooked
Cooked extrusion	Kernels that cook like normal rice	Some nutrient loss from heat; set premix overages accordingly
Fortified kernel line	Nutrition programmes, blend-in kernels	Blending accuracy and uniform mixing

The route is usually chosen together with the premix supplier, because nutrient stability under heat varies. The same line can also make plain reconstituted rice without premix, for example from broken rice or mixed grains, which helps keep the equipment busy between fortification orders.

What we need from you to quote

• Raw materials and the premix specification
• Kernel shape and size, or a sample of the rice to be matched
• Cooking, washing and texture requirements
• Blending ratio and whether blending is in our scope
• Output in kg/h of dried kernels and running hours
• Pack format, site plan and utilities: power, steam, water, compressed air

Where it sits in a line

Flour is prepared on a grain milling line, often from broken rice from a rice milling line. Kernels can be cleaned with a grain optical sorter before blending. The extrusion principle is related to the extruded snack production line, and packing usually runs on a VFFS packaging machine.