Mill Production

The facility covers 85,650 square feet. Its 34 grain silos hold 16 million pounds of wheat (270,000 bushels) and can process 200,000 pounds of grain in a single day, including hard red wheat, soft white wheat and durum wheat. The durum wheat, grown on Church-owned farms in Idaho and Montana, is ground into semolina, the raw product for the pasta. The pasta plant contributes to the 20 million pounds of foodstuffs produced at the mill each year.

The mill and pasta plant produce white flour, cake mix, potato pearls, granola, hot cereal, rolled oats, rice and pinto beans. On the pasta side, the large pasta-making machine was purchased from Fava, an Italian company, to produce spaghetti, macaroni and cheese and ribbon pasta. In an hour, it can extrude, dry and package 1,700 pounds of spaghetti and 1,300 pounds of macaroni or ribbon pasta. A third line packages macaroni and cheese at a rate of up to 60 boxes per minute.

The mix plant is an automated system that mixes pancake mix and chocolate and yellow cake mix in 1,500-pound batches.

Mill History

The Kaysville Mill, or "white castle" as it was called by the children in the area, has dominated the western skyline of Kaysville since 1905. The mill was built by the Kaysville Milling Company.

On October 2, 1920, the Ogden Standard Examiner reported, "Kaysville witnessed the largest fire in its history yesterday afternoon, when flames destroyed the four-story frame building occupied by the Kaysville Milling company. Dust explosion in a room at the extreme top of the structure is presumed to have started the blaze." Six large grain elevators operated in connection with the mill were not affected by the fire.

The Salt Lake Telegram reported August 13, 1924 that "[The contractor] is about ready for active building operations on the site of the Kaysville mill. The concrete hoisting tower is complete, sand, gravel and reinforcement bars are on the ground and preparation is being made for the setting of the forms."

Historian Leonard Arrington wrote, "that after World War II the Church Welfare Plan expanded, under the name of the Cooperative Security Corporation, into several major investments. The Deseret Mills and Elevators of Kaysville (see photograph above) was acquired in 1942 to mill flour, cereal, and feed for livestock on welfare projects."

In 1950, the first cement elevators were built by the Church and the mill became part of its welfare plan. In 1975, an even larger cement grain elevator was built in a new section to the north. Further modifications and upgrades were made to the mill in 1982, and in 2009 a family home storage section was included.

In 2014 the mix plant was added, the automated packaging line upgraded, and the new pasta plant commissioned and opened 26 February 2015. This is the third location for a Church pasta plant, as it began in Salt Lake City in 1963 and then was relocated to Kearns, on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, in 1978.

Deseret Mill in November 1974

Products are not sold at the mill but many items can be purchased at Home Storage Centers. Home Storage Centers help Church members and others build a basic supply of food for their longer-term home storage needs.

Durum Wheat

Durum wheat is used at the mill to make pasta products.

Durum wheat is also called pasta wheat or macaroni wheat. Durum in Latin means “hard”, and the species is the hardest of all wheats. This refers to the resistance of the grain to milling, in particular of the starchy endosperm (the tissue produced inside the wheat seed), implying dough made from its flour is weak or "soft". This makes durum favorable for semolina and pasta and less practical for flour, which requires more work than with common bread wheats.

Commercially produced dry pasta, or pasta secca, is made almost exclusively from durum semolina. Durum flour and semolina are good for making pasta products such as spaghetti and macaroni because it does not create doughs hard to shape.

Most of the durum grown today is amber durum, the grains of which are amber-colored and larger than those of other types of wheat. Durum has a yellow endosperm, which gives pasta its color. When durum is milled, the endosperm is ground into a granular product called semolina. Semolina made from durum is used for premium pastas and breads. There is also a red durum, used mostly for livestock feed.

Durum wheat is subject to four processes: cleaning, tempering, milling and purifying. First, durum wheat is cleaned to remove foreign material and shrunken and broken kernels.

Then it is tempered to a moisture content, toughening the seed coat for efficient separation of bran (hard outer layers) and endosperm.

Durum milling is a complex procedure involving repetitive grinding and sieving.

Proper purifying results in maximum semolina yield and the least amount of bran powder. [Some content from Wikipedia]

Mill Product Code

The image above was taken from product produced at our mill.

The first line is the familiar “Best By” date.
000206 from the second line is the 6 digit product number corresponding to Pancake and Waffle Mix.
DFP is the place of manufacture, Deseret Flour and Pasta.
081 is the number of days from January 1st, ie 22nd March.
18 is the year 2018.
13:04 is the 24 hour time.

22nd March 2018 is therefore the date of manufacture.

Longer-Term Foods do not have a “Best By” date because of the variation in temperature where they may be stored. However, the date code of manufacture is present on these products.

Mill Safety Orientation

For the short version skip to step 7
1. Are you feeling ill today?
2. Hair Nets; Ear Plugs; Dust Masks; Aprons; Gloves.
3. Remove all Jewelry. Watches; Rings; Fitness Trackers.
4. If rings can't be removed, wear gloves.
5. Breaks. 10am 2:30pm 7:30pm.
6. Fork lift doors.
SHORT VERSION 7 through 13
7. Remove all items from shirt pockets.
8. No cell phone usage in production area.
9. Bins: Garbage (green) and Edibles (blue).
10. No drinks, food, gum, or candy.
11. Evacuation. Exit via the nearest door.
12. Injuries.
13. Thank you for your service. 🙂