World Grain - January 2011 - 72

FEATURE: EDME: STAYING TRUE TO ITS PHILOSOPHY

open up new markets both geographically and with new innovative products
in the coming years. One of my initial
targets is to reinvigorate the EDME
brand to our existing customer base and
to new partners across the world; the
main targets being Eastern Europe and
Asia. As these regions become more
westernized in their diet and look for
'healthy,' 'natural' and 'functional' ingredients in their foods, we will be able
to offer our current range of ingredients
and develop bespoke solutions to meet
this developing market need. There are
exciting times ahead."
CEREAL GRAINS
The quality and characteristics of
the cereals used as raw materials are of
great importance. In most harvest years,
the wheat and barley requirements can
be sourced from traders in the surrounding area to meet the specifications.
Rye and oats are more difficult to
source, and most of these are now of
specific varieties which are contractgrown by farmers to EDME's requirements. The company, with its expertise
in cereal science, keeps a close watch on
plant breeding to identify the best varieties for its purposes.
Those cereals destined for malted products are first processed by Crisp Maltings, which has a dedicated plant for the
EDME raw materials to meet the complex
requirements for the food industry. The
raw malted grains are then transferred in
bulk to EDME for further intensive cleaning prior to flaking or milling.
PLANT INVESTMENTS
The plant features a lot of new equipment in the production lines and laboratories. The test kitchen facility was recently
established to improve new product development for bakery and non-bakery
applications, fault diagnosis and joint
workshop projects with customers
Cleaning and grading of incoming grain
is of enormous importance, especially for
the flaked and whole grain products. There
is, therefore, a near "zero tolerance" of
foreign or discolored material before onwww.World-Grain.com / World Grain / January 2011

EDME transports most of its products to the U.K. and Ireland, but also sends its goods to Europeon,
Middle East and Asian markets.

ward processing. Much of the new intensive seed cleaning equipment is supplied
by Westrup and is supplemented by existing destoners. The latest AlphaScan color
sorting machine from Satake performs a
final check for any discolored contaminants. The plant includes four flaking and
three kibbling lines as well as the milling
and blending facilities.
Two of the most interesting production lines are those which pass the
cleaned cereals through vertical cookers
where live steam is used both to soften
the kernels for flaking and to also adjust their alpha amylase activity before
entering the heavy duty Turner flaking
rolls. The flaked grains then pass into
horizontal micronizers, where gas-fired
infrared radiators dry them further, adjust the amylase activity and develop the
product color and flavor characteristics.
A dedicated blending area is earmarked for production of special powder blends which are potentially allergen sensitive. A growth in this product
range has seen products such as glutenfree blends being developed which seem
to be destined to increase in importance
in the coming years.
There are various means of particle
size reduction, but the fine micron products are mostly reduced to the required
particle size on impact mills manufactured by Baumeister GmbH.

Simon Wooster, technical director,
commented: "We are continuously challenging our processes with new innovations and further developing the technological focus of the business. A number
of collaborative projects with industry
research associations have allowed
us to explore the nutritional and functional aspects of malt and grain ingredients, providing commercially valuable
insights. From a quality perspective,
investment in our grain-cleaning processes and quality systems has provided
a further level of product security to our
customers and ensures that we maintain
the highest level of food manufacturing
quality accreditation."
EDME said it has evolved and prospered for 126 years since its founding in
1884 by always being true to its roots.
It has continued to develop and produce
ingredients for the milling, baking and
food sectors derived from cereal grains
which are modified or processed by entirely natural means. The company sees
little reason to doubt that its continuing
success in the future lies in maintaining
this business philosophy.
Bryan McGee, a milling industry consultant,
may be contacted at bryan@bcmcgee.co.uk.
We want to hear from you - Send comments and
inquiries to worldgrain@sosland.com. For reprints of
WG articles, e-mail reprints@sosland.com.

http://www.World-Grain.com

World Grain - January 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of World Grain - January 2011