Oat Processing
Cleaning
The cleaning plant accepts grain from the field and removes all harvest debris including straw, stones and other admixture such as seeds and other grains.
De-hulling
Once cleaned the oats are hulled. This is the removal of the outside husk, leaving the inner oat ‘groat’ and polishing the groats ready for stabilisation.
Kilning
Once the husk is removed, the groats need to be stabilised to stop them becoming rancid.
The kiln uses wet steam to penetrate to the centre of the groats, stopping the enzyme process and giving the groats a shelf life of over 12 months.
Grading
The groats are firstly colour sorted to make sure any dark fragments are removed, then they are graded into jumbo groats (which are ready for making jumbo flakes, amongst other products) and smaller groats ready for the cutting plant.
Flaking
Flaking is the process where the groats are flattened or rolled to create the oat flake, which is the product most of us are familiar with.
Cutting
The smaller groats are cut, producing an even grade of cut groats (sometimes called steel cut or pin head groats) which are then ready to make various grades of cut oat flakes.
Flour
Some end customer processes require grades of oat flour, this can be made directly from groats or through the grinding of oat flakes.
Packaging
Finished groats, flakes or flours can be packed in either 25kg sacks, bulk bags or food grade tankers for direct delivery to our customers.
Distribution
Once milled and packed to the required specification Navara distributes its product range direct to its customers’ sites to minimise onward food miles.