A A C C   2 0 0 0   A n n u a l   M e e t i n g

About 10 million metric ton of rice grains are produced and consumed per year in Japan. Most of them are short-grain Japonica rice. Japanese consumers prefer soft and sticky cooked rice. For the evaluation of sensory quality of rice grains, organoleptic method and physicochemical measurements are used. The former method is a fundamental method and the latter have the merit of objectivity. There are two kind of sensory tests, which are preference test and analytical test. Japan Association of Grain Inspection carries out preference sensory tests of rice grains all over Japan and publish the results every year. New analytical sensory test was developed to clarify the sensory qualities of Newly Bred Characteristic Rices in Japan. As examples of physicochemical measurements of rice grains, we can mention chemical analyses, cooking quality test, pasting properties test and measurement of physical properties of cooked rice grains. Multi-variable analyses are very useful to develop an equation for the sensory qualities of rice grains. "Taste analyzers" have been developed and become popular year by year. Their principles are based on multi-variable analyses using absorption or reflection of near-infrared spectroscopy using milled rice grains as samples. Recently, MAFF of Japan started new research project on quality evaluation of rice grains.