Rice

Rice, as a cereal grain, it is the most consumed staple food for a large part of the world’s human population, especially in Asia.

Rice is particularly likely to be infested with storage pests if it is stored for a long period. A high proportion of broken grains facilitates the development of insects.

The chewing damage caused by cereal pests might cause an increased respiration in the cereal (hot spots). This, associated with the metabolic activity of the pests themselves, promotes the evolution of heat and moisture, which then provides favorable living conditions for molds and subsequently, at very high moisture levels, for bacterial growth.

Altough many companies are chosing now for non-toxic methods, rice is still mainly fumigated with toxic chemicals such as Phosphine and Methyl Bromide. These hazardous substances leave toxic residues in, on and around the product and are not always very effective, because of improper application and because of globally increasing pest resistance to those chemicals.

EcO2 is experienced with Heat and Controlled Atmosphere treatments of big amounts of rice in flat warehouses or silos. EcO2 treatments do not use chemicals assuring always the best quality of products’ ingredients