Originally introduced in the 1950’s frosted cereal quickly became a staple of many family’s mornings. Today you’ll find versions of flavored and frosted cereals on breakfast tables around the world.
Cereals can be whole wheat-based, corn-based, or combinations of whole wheat, corn, and other additives that boost the finished product’s nutritional value such as granola clusters.
Before becoming flakes, whole wheat or corn kernels are cooked in industrial-grade pressure cookers, where they absorb moisture and soften. After an initial drying step, cooked kernels pass through a mill, which flattens them into flakes.
Flakes then pass through a large toaster oven which produces the flakes’ crispy texture and enhances the flakes’ color and flavor.
Depending on the finished product, toasted flakes enter either a rotating drum where additional flavor (cinnamon or malt) and probiotics are added, or a spray coating system where a mixture of sugar and water is applied to “frost” the cereal. A final pass through another dryer cures flavor and sugar coatings to the flake, making them ready for packaging.
Throughout these process steps, Thayer Scale Model FP Belt Scales and Model MWF Weigh Belts play an important role in the quality and customer perception of the finished product. From accurately dosing kernels into pressure cookers to ensure they are properly cooked, to controlling the rate of flow of flakes into the toaster to achieve the proper flake texture without burning, to measuring the rate of flow of flakes into rotating coating drums to ensure that flavor, sugar and water mixtures, as well as additional nutritional additives are delivered in the correct proportion to the base cereal flake.
Weighing equipment for cereal processing
Food Processing Conveyor Belt Scales
- Designed to seamlessly integrate into existing conveyors
- Mass counter-balanced weight sensing system specifically engineered to accurately weigh “low density” materials (bulk densities ranging from 0.5 to 12 pounds per cubic foot (8 to 192 kilograms per cubic meter)
- Available with 2 to 5 idler weigh bridge based on material load
- Designed for installation in horizontal to inclined (up to 12-degrees) conveyors
- Available in “Scale Over” or “Scale Under” configuration based on process layout
Weigh belts
- Highly accurate for reliable, repeatable measurements and batch control
- Available with open or enclosed construction
- Designed to fit new or existing process flow streams
- Cantilevered conveyor assembly simplifies maintenance
Loss-in-weight Feeders
- Auger discharge
- Vibratory pan discharge
- Feed rates from grams/minute to tons/hour
Hopper and silo material flow promotion solutions
- Provide consistent, uninterrupted material flow