In close to one year of study, the students have been using Lesaffre’s yeast from its ‘Swallow’ brand. That’s why they’ve become very familiar with it. This time again, students have an opportunity to personally visit Lesaffre’s yeast factory in Mingguang, Anhui to understand how yeast is produced. On the afternoon of April 14, the Shanghai Young Bakers left Shanghai to start their 2 day study abroad.
Since the Shanghai Young Bakers started in 2009, Lesaffre have always provided sponsorship and shared industry knowledge to support our program. Lesaffre is the world’s leader of yeast and yeast extracts. The factory in Mingguang, Anhui being Lesaffre’s first base in China for yeast manufacturing, has accumulated extensive experience from yeast and bread improvers.
On the morning of the 15th Lesaffre’s factory’s Product Manager Mr. Wu and Occupational Health & Safety Manager Mr. Yang, enthusiastically welcomed the arrival of students from the 10th cohort.
Lesaffre’s Mingguang factory, Anhui’s yeast production starts first with safety instruction provided by Occupational Health & Safety Mr. Yang. Before visiting the factory, everyone needs to wear the following: a safety hat, safety boots, long pants and protective work clothes. When entering the factory, there is also a notice that advises to not take photos, walk along the pedestrian walkways, hold onto the handrails when walking up and down the stairs. Mr. Yang says that placing importance on Occupational Health & Safety is being responsible for not only himself, but also for others as well. This is also why understanding the importance of safety is extremely important for the students that are entering the factory for the first time. Finally Mr. Yang raises three very good suggestions for dealing with any accidents: 1) Safety comes first 2) Nothing can be accomplished without first having set standards 3) Consider an action at least three times before proceeding. Mr. Yang explains that dangers are nothing to be afraid of. Only if everyone is conscious enough about safety, can they know what should they do in the event of a crisis.
Following this Mr. Wu, Product Manager introduces the students to the main products of Lesaffre. Lesaffre, a multinational company with 160 years of history, produces yeast which the food is made of is provided to more than 1 billion of people. The yeast that everyone uses, how it is produced, in what shape and form, is able to used in which area etc. is explained in extensive detail by Mr. Wu.
Finally, the students put on their protective gear and bring with them, the knowledge that they have understood from the training and any questions/doubts along with them to the Mingguang factory, Anhui’s production and warehouse. Within this process they were very interested in the most important source ingredient: molasses. The workers in the factory are very keen to answer the students’ questions, and further to this, the students also have an opportunity to witness first-hand how molasses is used in the production of yeast.
Much appreciation and many thanks goes to Lesaffre’s Mingguang, Anhui factory workers for providing Shanghai Young Bakers’ students an extremely rare, hard-to-get technical training, let students learn about the importance of yeast in baking. This benefits their personal development to become an even more professional as a baker.
We thank Lesaffre for their long-term continued support for the Shanghai Young Bakers, haring with us their industry expertise.
