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To illustrate the importance of Lima’s own quality service, we take you on a tour from rice grain to the transformation in rice cake
Lima visiting the farmers
Different steps in the preparation of rice
Checks on delivery of the rice
Production. from rice to rice cakes
Quality control during production
Next stages
The next day at Lima Expert, Lima's lab
Lima visiting the farmers
Our rice is cultivated in Italy according to Lima’s book of specs. The farmer, who is bound by the organic legislation, has to agree with Lima’s strict controls of machines and cultivation methods. The approved batches rice are sold and stocked on the spot.
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Chantal Uyttenove and Philip Vandenabeele, respectively responsible for purchase and quality control, are visiting our Italian rice farmers. |
Balilla rice is most suited for the production of rice cakes |
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'Rice paddy : rice grain still in its hull |
After a succesful harvest the rice farmers deliver the ‘rice paddies’ at the Riserias where they are stocked in large silos. |
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Different steps in the preparation of rice
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The 'paddies’ hull is removed
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Impurities (like pebbles, unripe rice, etc.) are being filtered by this machine. |
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Unripe rice and other grains are blocked thanks to another cleaning and filtering program |
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After this last cleaning the ‘Riseria’ performs another set of standard checks. When approved the rice is available for Lima, that is, the quality of the rice meets the quality standards of our laboratory.
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Checks on delivery of the rice
In function of the market demand Lima orders every two months a part of the rice batches, which are transported to Belgium in silo-trucks. On delivery and before the unloading, the driver has to show the document which proves that the truck has been cleaned according to regulation. Without this document the goods cannot be unloaded.
Next, a few samples of the batch is brought to our lab, Lima Expert, for a series of checks and tests. All these tests are performed to see if the quality of the rice meets the demands of our book of specs:
- Test on the presence of pesticides: all products produced at Lima, pesticide are being tested on the source, i.e. tests are performed on raw materials (like in thsi example). For other products our lab performs pesticide analyses on products in their endform
- Physico-chemical tests: for instance the degree of moisture (an important issue when you want to produce nice, crunchy rice cakes)
- Odour and taste (organoleptic tests)
- Visual check: detection of grains other than rice, insects, etc.
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Illustration of a humidity test
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Rice grains taken as a sample are being pulverized and weighed (5g) |
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The rice powder is placed in an incubator which heats up the rice powder. |
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By heating up, water present in rice evaporates, allowing us to calculate the percentage of water and thus the degree of moisture.
Moisture is an important parameter when producing rice cakes: too humid rice results in cakes which are all but crunchy.
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After the tests , there are two options:
- The batch is refused and is returned to sender at once
- The batch is approved, the delivery accepted and stored in our own silo’s
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Production… from rice to rice cakes
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The right amount of rice is selected in function of the planned production. To be able to puff the rice, water is added, as well as salt (when needed) and other cereals (for the production of rice&cereal cakes like e.g. buckweat rice cakes). |
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The making of a cake
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We take a small quantity f rice, sesame, sea salt and other grains if so desired and we put these ingredients in a mould which is closed and heated for 8 seconds. The heat eliminates all moisture and puffs the grains, which fill the mould and adhere. |
Puffed rice moulded to rice cakes is transported via a conveyor belt to the packaging area. |
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Quality control during production
Visual control along the conveyor belt
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A first visual control is performed to eliminate bad rice cakes (burnt or broken ones). There is also a machine checking and eliminating broken rice cakes.
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An operator is scrutinising the production process and replaces broken or burnt rice cakes to make sure every packaging contains the right amount of cakes. |
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Metaldetector
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Before being packed automatically, all rice cakes pass a metal detector. This check is done to ensure that no metal dust (due to the cleaning of the iron moulds). The detector signals every suspicious packaging and eliminates it. Moreover, an operator checks and cleans the detector’s electronic eye every two hours to make sure the quality control is not disturbed. |
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Permanent control during production
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Dirk, our production leader is responsible for the entire production process, from the mixing of ingredients to putting the goods on pallets. A whole range of tests are performed during the production process: broken or poorly puffed rice cakes are eliminated, weight controls are done, packaging and a clearly legible shelf life, etc. After production our lab, Lima Expert, performs the same tests on samples taken during production (see also below). |
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Next stages
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The rice cakes are packed in cases and piled up on pallets |
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On each case the name of the product, the article number and shelf life are mentioned. Thanks to the shelf life our lab can retrieve all characteristics of a batch, allowing thus for full tracability. |
The pallets are brought to the warehouse |
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Every pallet has a label with product information, logistical information and the logo of our certification body. |
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Each pallet leaving our warehouse receives a unique code. This code is also printed on the customer’s (i.e. wholesalers) invoice, again to ensure 100% traceability. |
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The pallets with rice cakes are ready to be transported all over Europe. |
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The next day at Lima Expert, Lima’s lab
Even though thorough tests are performed during production (legible shelf life on packaging, quality rice cakes, packaging, weight, etc.), the same tests are repeated by our quality service on samples. While producing, every two hours a pack of rice cakes is put aside for our quality service. At the end of a production day, 12 packs have been kept aside
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Follow us to our lab…
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Next to tests with 12 random packs, staff member of our quality service opens a random case to check its contents. |
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As a random pack is put aside every two hours as test samples, our quality service can perfectly locate possible fluctuations during production. This allows them to easily identify suspicious prodcucts in a production batch.
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Checking the expiry date and the welding of the packaging.
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Checking if the packaging opens easily enough. |
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Visual control of the rice cake form. |
And let’s not forget about the taste!
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The result of every test is carefully written down to be digitally stored in the quality service database, allowing its staff to consult all data 24/7. This also allows for regular statistics to be drawn. |
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After visual tests again a humidity test
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Checking the weight. |
Rice cakes are pulverised to perform a humidity test.
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A hallogen lamp heats up the rice powder, causing the water to evaporate. With the water gone, there is a new weight, allowing us to calculate the humidity degree, which is an important criterion to produce crispy rice cakes. |
Of course, quality testing of rice cakes is not the only activity of our quality service. Every Lima-product is tested by Lima Expert on a regular basis, so we can continue offering high-quality products.
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