Baking & Snack - December 2006 - 83

ᮤ Fermentation-based ingredients do
the work of preparing leavening cultures
for the baker, guaranteeing consistent
performance every time.
Puratos

product. Yeast has to tolerate those
environments, especially freezing."
"Maintaining less than 5-day storage time in the bakery beneficially
impacts frozen dough processing,"
Mr. McKeown explained. "Bakers
Best can actually be stored longer. We
have seen excellent results with bakery yeast storage up to 10 to 12 days.
And frozen dough products usually
require an 8-week shelf life. With the
new yeast, they can push it out another four weeks."

LONGER ROUTES
A different problem is also directing
new product development in bakers
yeast: longer distribution times. A
number of new yeast manufacturing
plants have opened. These include
Minn-Dak, Wahpeton, ND, in 1989;
Lallemand/American Yeast, Memphis, TN, in 2004; USA Yeast, Hatties-

86 / BAKING & SNACK / December 2006

burg, MS, in 2003; and Lesaffre's Red
Star Yeast, Cedar Rapids, IA, this year.
These locations take advantage of
state-of-the-art computerized controls
to produce yeast in a more efficient,
consistent and cost-effective manner
than older out-dated locations, many
now closed due to merger. This means
that on average, yeast products must
travel a longer distance to the bakery.
"When transportation times are
stretched, you can see a fall-off in
gassing volume and activity of fresh
yeast," Mr. Bright observed. His colleague Mr. McKeown identified another problem. "One of the issues
with block yeast is mold," he said,
explaining that the company recently
introduced Bakers Select, a fresh yeast
in compressed block form that exhibits five to six weeks of mold-free stability, compared with the three to four
weeks expected of earlier products.

"The change in yeast industry structure spurred us to find a more stable
yeast to provide customers with bigger benefits and longer in-plant life,"
Mr. Bright said.
"We approached this challenge by
seeking to produce a more stable fresh
yeast," Mr. McKeown explained. "In
the process of developing this more
stable yeast, we came across additional benefits for bakers in its ability to
tolerate [frozen dough and high-sugar
formula] conditions.
"Something new to the industry is our 'best before' date codes,"
he continued. "Previously we used
Julian calendar shipping codes or
manufacturing dates. This open approach change clarifies the date code
for bakers."
Improvements in yeast manufacturing technologies, according to Mr. Lavalee, have led to better consistency,
higher quality and lower costs. "This
is thanks in large part to the computerization of the process," he said.
"We run all-liquid products here. The
quality of yeast has improved significantly in terms of consistency of activity during the past 10 years."
To facilitate the movement of yeast
to customers, other changes have been
made. For example, National Yeast
LLC, with offices at Milwaukee and
St. Louis, acts as the sales and marketing arm for Minn-Dak, now whollyowned by the Minn-Dak Farmers
Cooperative, Wahpeton, ND. In September this year, Minn-Dak signed an
alliance agreement with USA Yeast
to exchange technical information
and offer production backup to each
other. The companies serve different
geographical areas.
"Our agreement with USA Yeast

Baking & Snack - December 2006

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