1. Receipt & Storage
The wheat is received from ships and trucks. All receipts of cereals undergo meticulous sample checking, in order to verify the quality of the product.
Upon unloading, the wheat is weighed and is subjected to an initial mechanical cleaning to remove impurities.
2. Cleaning
Before being milled, the wheat must be fully cleaned from any impurities and wetted to the desired level for milling.
The impurities that may be present in wheat are: grains of other cereals, straw, paper, stones, sand, dust, glass, metal. Impurities are separated from the wheat mechanically based on:
· Size
· Shape
· Specific gravity
· Magnetism
3. Wetting
The wheat's moisture must be kept at certain levels in order to achieve the best possible separation of the flour from the bran.
The amount of added moisture and the stay time of the wheat before milling depends on its hardness, climatic conditions and the moisture specifications of the finished product.
The wetting of wheat allows the more efficient separation of bran from the endosperm and the appropriate degree of softness of the interior grain to achieve good performance during milling.
4. Milling
The milling process aims to remove the endosperm (flour) from the bark (bran) of wheat. This is accomplished through a gradual milling process, carried out with the help of rollers and consisting of three steps:
The breaking system (which separates and removes the endosperm from the bran in relatively large pieces)
· The scraping system (which removes small pieces of bran and germ, which are attached to the endosperm)
· The reduction system (which mills the endosperm into flour)
5. Mixing
Mixing allows the creation of a large number of products, homogenising different flour and auxiliary materials at the desired ratio.
6. Special processing
· Drying
· Separation of proteins
· Heat treatment of bran and milling fractions
7. Storage and Packaging
The flour created by milling is transferred to storage silos.
From there, the flour will be taken to a mechanical disinsectisation device, a control screen, a packaging device, a metal detector and finally a palletising device.
The final packing of the flour varies, from packets of 0.5 kg to 50 kg sacks. However, the flour may also be loaded on 4-26 ton silo trucks.
8. Quality Control
The quality control of the flour begins with the control of the received wheat, continues in the various stages of milling and ends with the control of the final product.
The quality control ensures that the flour has the best qualities, while also performing tests to verify that the grains are free of harmful toxins, pesticides or other harmful microorganisms.