The quality of baker’s yeast is often discussed in terms of microbiological purity and gas producing activity.

At the beginning stage of the manufacturing process, strain purity and trueness to type are carefully controlled. In the laboratory, a pure culture of the yeast strain being used is maintained and prepared for inoculation into the initial fermentation vessel. Strict adherence to sanitary practices and GMPrules of the Food and Drug Administration are required at all stages of yeast production to produce products with acceptable microbiological standards. Complete microbiological testing is conducted on all finished yeast product using approved and published methods. This insures product safety and lack of potentially harmful organisms. Dakota Baker’s Yeast microbiological standards have Salmonella sp. specification of negative/375 grams and an E.coli specification of less than 100/gram.

Gas production is the major function of yeast in bread dough. To ensure consistent gassing performance, each code of Dakota Bakers Yeast is tested for gassing activity. The test involves gassing a standardized dough formula at a constant-temperature in a precision gassing apparatus that measures the amount of carbon dioxide produced over a fixed amount of time. While the test is an excellent predictor of yeast performance, it is not an exact predictor of proof times. This is due to the fact that proof times are related to both gas-production by yeast and gas-retention by the dough. Factors such as flour quality, dough strengtheners, and the amount of mixing are some of the factors that affect gas retention. Gassing activity numbers are provided with the certificate of analysis (COA) accompanying each shipment of Dakota Bakers Yeast.