Preparing cereal grain pre-cooking a rice grain for human and/or animal consumption, comprises hardening the grain, sterilizing the hardened cereal grain, drying the cereal grain, flattening the cereal grain and expanding the cereal grain
Preparing a cereal grain comprises hardening the grain in which the cereal grain is increased to at least 20%, sterilizing the hardened cereal grain by subjecting it to a steam treatment to gelatinize at least partially, the starch contained in the cereal grain, drying the cereal grain in which the moisture content is reduced to less than 30%, flattening the cereal grain in which the dimensions of the grain are modified, and expanding the cereal grain in which the volume of the grain is increased. Preparing a cereal grain for human and/or animal consumption, comprises hardening the grain in which the cereal grain is increased to at least 20%, sterilizing the hardened cereal grain by subjecting it to a steam treatment to gelatinize at least partially, the starch contained in the cereal grain, drying the cereal grain in which the moisture content is reduced to less than 30%, flattening the cereal grain in which the dimensions of the grain are modified, and expanding the cereal grain in which the volume of the grain is increased, where the cereal grain is heated, prior to the flattening step, by increasing its temperature so as to change properties of the cereal grain to facilitate flattening of the latter during the flattening step. Independent claims are included for: (1) an installation for preparing the cereal grain for human and/or animal consumption, comprising a hardening unit to increase the humidity of the cereal grain to at least 20%, a sterilizing unit to partially gelatinize the starch contained in the cereal grain and comprising a vapor treatment module, a drying unit to reduce the moisture of the grain to at least 30%, a flattening unit to change the size of the cereal grain, and an expansion unit to increase the volume of the cereal grain, a unit for heating the grains thus increasing the temperature of the grain to modify the plastic properties of the grain； and (2) an expanded cereal grain prepared by the process having a density of 0.2-0.5 g/cm 3>；.
