Journal of Advances in Food Science & Technology

Parboiling is a hydrothermal treatment of paddy that couples water uptake, starch gelatinisation, solute redistribution and controlled drying before milling. Its longstanding value lies in strengthening kernels and improving head-rice recovery, yet the conventional sequence of prolonged soaking, steam treatment and multi-stage drying is resource intensive and can intensify colour, texture and safety trade-offs. This critical narrative review revisits parboiling as an integrated process rather than a fixed recipe, with emphasis on emerging technologies, process optimisation and translational priorities. Literature published principally from 1 January 2000 to 9 June 2026 was identified through live scholarly searching of accessible bibliographic and institutional sources, supplemented by citation chasing and verification against DOI and journal records; seminal earlier work was retained where necessary. The evidence shows that process performance is governed by interactions among cultivar-dependent hydration, heat and mass transfer, starch phase transitions, thermal history and moisture-stress relaxation. Response-surface methods have clarified local operating windows, but their transferability is limited when genotype, equipment geometry or downstream drying changes. Microwave, infrared, ohmic, ultrasound, radiofrequency, vacuum-assisted soaking, fluidised-bed and superheated-steam approaches can accelerate individual steps or combine gelatinisation with drying, but most evidence remains laboratory or pilot scale and is not directly comparable across energy, water, quality and cost metrics. Nutritional effects are similarly conditional: parboiling can alter resistant starch and mineral distribution, while also redistributing inorganic arsenic if contaminated water or paddy is used. The most defensible future strategy is therefore multi-objective optimisation that treats milling yield, sensory quality, nutritional functionality, contaminant control, energy, water and effluent as simultaneous constraints. Industrial progress will depend on cultivar-aware models, validated scale-up, harmonised reporting, inline sensing and techno-economic and environmental assessment under realistic operating conditions.