KPM Analytics Publishes Second Edition of The Baker's Quality Assurance Handbook

The free digital 200+ page guide helps bakers and millers respond to wheat variability, rising costs, the loss of master baker expertise, and the arrival of AI in production. 

WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Aug. 12, 2026 /CNW/ -- KPM Analytics, a global leader in scientific instrumentation for food quality and safety, today announced the release of the Second Edition of The KPM Baker's Quality Assurance Handbook: The Keys for Mastering Baking Process Control. The handbook is available now as a free digital download at https://kpm.is/bakers-handbook.

The Second Edition arrives at a difficult moment for the baking and milling industry. Extreme weather events and regional conflicts have increased variability in wheat quality, while inflation, tariffs, and trade barriers continue to raise the cost of raw materials and energy. At the same time, consumers have limited capacity to absorb higher prices. Bakeries are therefore under pressure to reduce waste, avoid production interruptions, and hold product quality steady using ingredients that change more often than they did in the past.

Two additional pressures shape the new edition. The first is a widening knowledge gap. Many master bakers are retiring or moving to other industries, and the practical expertise they used to correct a process when something went wrong is leaving with them. The second is the rapid arrival of AI-driven tools. These technologies improve consistency and quality in measurable ways, but many organizations are being asked to adopt them quickly, before their teams fully understand how the tools work or what the data means.

"Objective measurement is how a baking operation protects itself when the variables keep changing," said Yuegang Zhao, Chief Commercial Officer at KPM Analytics and co-editor of the handbook. "When you can quantify what your flour, your dough, and your finished product are doing, you no longer depend on a single person's experience to make the right decision. That knowledge belongs to the whole team, and it stays with the company."

The handbook is organized into six parts covering technical fundamentals:

• A comprehensive technical overview objective analytical tools used in milling and baking processes today
• Raw material and ingredient quality control
• Production process control
• Product inspection and food safety
• Success stories from some of the world's top baking and milling brands
• Guidance on working with technology suppliers.

Topics include water absorption, dough proofing analysis, moisture and compositional analysis by near-infrared spectroscopy, flour and dough rheology, and the use of vision inspection and AI systems for process control and foreign material detection. It is written as a working resource rather than a rigid manual, so bakers and millers can adapt the methods to operations of any size, whether they are building a first formal quality assurance program or improving one that already exists.

New to this edition is an expanded set of customer case studies, including Domino's Pizza, Bay State Milling, Richardson Milling USA, Puratos, Europe Snacks, Emmi Desserts, Wooden Bakery, and La Toque Angevine, an LDC subsidiary. Each account describes a specific quality problem, the measurement approach used to address it, and the result on the production floor.

"The KPM Analytics' Applications and Marketing teams put a great deal of work into this edition, and what they captured comes directly from years of working alongside our customers on the production floor," says Zhao.

The KPM Baker's Quality Assurance Handbook, Second Edition can be downloaded at no cost at https://kpm.is/bakers-handbook. (a $35.99 USD value).

About KPM Analytics

KPM Analytics is a global leader in scientific instrumentation, providing analytical and vision inspection solutions to laboratories and industrial operators in the food, feed, agriculture, industrial and environmental sectors. KPM products have a long history of helping companies secure product quality, optimize production processes, and make confident, data-driven decisions through reliable solutions, supported by dedicated application expertise and local service.  Visit https://www.kpmanalytics.com to learn more. 

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SOURCE KPM Analytics