SupplySide

Natural RTE Cereal Processing

December 1, 2004 Eric Sevatson Comments

Posted in Articles, Breakfast, Cereal, Moisture Control, Natural, Processing, Sweeteners, Topics, Bakery / Cereal

The concept of naturally formulated ready-to-eat (RTE) breakfast cereals is older than you might think: They really got their start in the late 1800s and early 1900s by RTE-cereal pioneers, such as W. K. Kellogg and C. W. Post, both of Battle Creek, MI. The RTE-cereal industry worldwide can trace their roots back to these two individuals.

Both these gentlemen came up with "natural-formulation" RTE breakfast cereals for those who could not eat the standard meat and egg breakfast due to health, dietary concerns or religious views. Post at first developed a coffee alternative called "Postum," a cereal-based beverage. Around the same time, Kellogg was knocking around looking for alternative breakfast foods and stumbled into a method of making corn flakes, one that is still used by Kellogg Company. However, while Post was fiddling around with Postum he couldn't help but notice the success that Kellogg was having, so, he too decided to get into the RTE-cereal biz. By 1920, over a hundred companies in the Battle Creek area made these cereals. Indeed, one could say it was the "Silicon Valley" of RTE breakfast cereals.

These early formulations used by Post and Kellogg were based on natural ingredients. (After all, in those days there were no genetically modified grains and the agriculture industry used no "chemicals.") Many of the processes they used at the start of the RTE-cereal industry are virtually the same as today. Little has changed except for automated control and a strong eye on quality control and assurance. Today, the use of naturally based RTE breakfast cereals is more popular then ever, and it appears that the trend will continue.

Defining processes

If someone talks about cereals in the United Kingdom and most parts of Europe, as well as New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, they're referring to raw, unprocessed cereal grain, such as barley, rye, oats, corn, etc. But in the United States, "cereal" typically means RTE breakfast cereals that fall into the following categories: flaked (Kellogg's Corn Flakes, General Mills Wheaties); gun- or oven-puffed (Kellogg's Honey Smacks); indirect expanded, or 3G or half products (General Mills Cheerios, Kellogg's Froot Loops); direct expanded, or DX (Fruit Rings and Oat Rings sold by Associated Wholesaler Grocers); shredded (Nabisco's Shredded Wheat); granola (Quaker 100% Natural Granola); sheeted (General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch); and Weetabix-like bars.

These types of cereal use the same general methods of manufacturing regardless of the formulation -- within reason. However, changes in formulation to produce an all-natural cereal might very well affect the specific process. Most RTE breakfast cereals are made with one of two processes: traditional processes (those discovered by Kellogg and Post) and extrusion-based processes.

Extrusion is a relative newcomer to the RTE breakfast cereal industry. Single-screw extrusion was developed in the 1950s and twin-screw extruders were not developed until the early 1980s. Extrusion processes the material through mixing, pressure and heat generated by the process. Expanded products require a higher pressure and temperature, so that when the product passes through the forming die, the change in atmospheric pressure causes the water in the dough to change to steam, expanding the product and giving it a cellular structure. Pellets for flaking don't require the expanded structure and therefore are extruded at a lower temperature and pressure.

The extrusion process takes the raw material and begins with mixing and conveying to a single- or twin-screw extruder. The product is then conveyed to the next step. A DX product goes through a drier/toaster, to reduce moisture and color the product through browning, then to a cooler, then conveyed to either a coating system, and then to packaging. If the end product is to be flaked, the mix goes to a single-screw former and then is conveyed to a bead-handling system before entering the flaking rolls. The flaked product goes into a drier/toaster, then a coating system and subsequent drier, if used, and then is packaged.

The traditional system can vary quite a bit depending on the type of product made. It includes many, if not all, of the components listed above, as well as: rotary pressurized batch cookers, puffing guns or towers, sheeting rolls, clump breakers and sizing systems, bumping rolls, and temper bins.

Regardless of how they are processed, the final product is nutritionally the same with some minor differences in appearance. Extrusion takes less energy and usually less-expensive raw material than the traditional process, and the original equipment purchase price is less expensive.

The source and type of raw materials may have no effect on the process, or it may affect the process to a degree. For example, with grains, composition differences from crop year to crop year, the region it was grown in, and how it was handled and processed prior to arriving at the cereal manufacturer can all have an effect on the process.

Breakfast cereals made by all of these could be or are naturally formulated. But it should be noted that the heat and pressures associated with all the processes could destroy or degrade color and flavors of many natural ingredients. Though the process temperatures and surface temperatures might be higher, typically the internal temperature will range from the boiling point of water to about 265?F.

« Previous12 Next »