Question

Given below are two statements:
Statement (I): Parboiling process is a mandatory operation in rice milling.
Statement (II): Parboiling maximises recovery of head rice by minimizing breakage during milling.

In light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below.

• A. Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are correct.
• B. Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are incorrect.
• C. Statement (I) is correct but Statement (II) is incorrect.
• D. Statement (I) is incorrect but Statement (II) is correct.

Hint:

The primary industrial objective of parboiling is to reduce milling losses (breakage) from typically 20-30% down to less than 5%, securing high head-rice yield.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Step 1: Examine Statement (I).
Parboiling is a hydrothermal soak-steam-dry pretreatment applied to paddy before milling, but plenty of rice is milled directly as raw (non-parboiled) rice all over the world. Since a mandatory step, by definition, cannot be skipped, and raw milling is a widely practised alternative, parboiling cannot be called a mandatory operation. Statement (I) is therefore incorrect.
Step 2: Examine Statement (II).
During parboiling, starch inside the endosperm gelatinises and then retrogrades on drying, which fuses internal cracks and strengthens the grain against the mechanical stresses of dehusking and polishing. This directly reduces breakage and raises the proportion of unbroken (head) rice recovered, which is exactly what the statement claims. Statement (II) is therefore correct.
Step 3: Combine the findings.
Statement (I) is false because parboiling is optional, not compulsory, while Statement (II) correctly describes parboiling's real benefit of higher head-rice recovery, so the answer is that Statement (I) is incorrect but Statement (II) is correct.
\[ \boxed{Statement (I) is incorrect but Statement (II) is correct.} \]