Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a cereal that grows on and is consumed
on every continent. This cereal is mainly composed of starch and
minor amounts of protein, lipid, fiber, minerals, vitamins and phenolic
compounds. Besides starch, which is the major constituent of
milled rice at about 90% of the dry matter, also proteins (6.3–7.1%),
lipids (0.3–0.5%) and fibers (0.2–0.5%) are found in the rice endosperm
(Juliano, 1993).
Broken grain is a by-product obtained from the processing of
milled rice. Broken rice is used for the industrial production of rice
flours with different features. Furthermore, in recent years, ingredients
derived from rice and milled rice have been the basis for
the development of new foods. Rice starch, rice protein, rice syrup
and rice dextrin have growing applications. Rice starch is composed
of tiny granules with a narrow size distribution making
them ideally suited as a cosmetic dusting powder, a textile stiffening
agent, and a fat mimetic in foods. In addition, rice starch causes
minimal allergic reactions and has a smooth flavor (Mitchell,
2009).