Specialty wheat products key for Star of the West

FRANKENMUTH, MICHIGAN, US — While the company’s annual flour production has expanded dramatically over the last 45 years, Star of the West enjoys a large and thriving business processing wheat into products other than flour.

The company milled more than 10 million cwts of flour in 2022, up from about 750,000 cwts in the late 1970s, said Michael Fassezke, president of the company’s milling business.

Reluctant to describe the full range of the specialty products Star of the West produces for customers, Fassezke said the company opened a flaking operation a few years ago.

“We steam it, we heat it, we flake it, we cool it, dry it, package it, and it goes to the cereal industry,” he said. “It is used as an inclusion in a lot of different cereals. So that was our first foray into ready-to-eat products, and we really like it. There will be more opportunities for us in the ready-to-eat sector in the future.”

Star of the West also cleans wheat to food grade standards for the ready-to-eat breakfast cereal industry. The kernels are the basis for a range of cereal varieties.

Fassezke said cleaning wheat to a food-grade standard is tougher than it sounds.

“It’s probably the hardest thing we do because there’s no tolerance for foreign material or defects; there’s no tolerance for really anything,” he said. “I mean it has to be absolutely cleaned to the nth degree. Sounds simple, but it’s not. Every spoonful of cereal is a quality inspection. “

Star of the West operates two separate cleaning houses at its Frankenmuth, Michigan, complex — one for cleaning wheat for the mill and another for specialty cleaning.

Bran flakes, shredded wheat and flaked wheat cereals are among those made from clean soft white wheat.

Star of the West also produces food-grade bran milled from soft white wheat, and the company also makes “a fair amount” of soft white whole wheat flour, Fassezke said.

“Our soft white whole wheat business has been very steady,” he said.

The company’s whole wheat flour goes into cookies, crackers, pastries and a range of other finished products.

Source: Specialty wheat products key for Star of the West