Many of these topics have been chosen because of the common perception of chocolate consumption as detrimental to health, if not downright sinful. Chocolate and Cocoa is well presented and indexed. Its mix of industrial and scientific topics provides an extremely valuable resource for those interested in understanding the role of chocolate and cocoa in the human diet, somewhat surprisingly without becoming a promotional vehicle for the industry. Readers familiar with the first English edition will notice the revision incorporates modern food science concepts, such as glass transition temperature. Although the book covers a wide range of foods and processes a notable omission is a discussion of the chemistry of food packaging, storage and transport.
All chapters have a selected and generous bibliography.
This is a small criticism for such a comprehensive text, which provides both depth and breadth to a large and important field of study. There are about 450 tables including compilations of amino acid sequences for many major food proteins. I highly recommend this text as essential reading for all food technologists. Gums and stabilizers for the food industry 10 records the proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Gums and Stabilisers for the Food Industry held at the North East Wales Institute, Wrexham, in July 1999. The organisers have had great success in putting together scientific programs that interest industrial end users of gums and stabilisers as well as basic scientists in this field.