In recent years, the ready-meals market has grown significantly
in developed or developing countries, and many ready to eat meals
including cooked rice have been developed. Freshly cooked rice are soft, pliable and elastic, but when stored they
stale within a few hours and become tough and rigid. In less than 3
days the shelf-life of cooked rice presents a major problem and can
be costly to the producer, distributor, consumer and the country in
general. The short shelf-life of cooked rice, which is mainly due to
staling, i.e. starch retrogradation, increased hardness or decreased
adhesiveness, is a serious problem. Concerning the preservation
technologies applied to ready to eat meals, freezing has been
recognized as an excellent method of preserving the quality characteristics
of foods and extending their shelf-life.