Food in World History or Food Shelf Life Stability

Food in World History

Author: J Pilcher

Providing a comparative and comprehensive study of culinary cultures and consumption throughout the world from ancient times to present day, this book examines the globalization of food and explores the political, social and environmental implications of our changing relationship with food.
Including numerous case studies from diverse societies and periods, Food in World History examines and focuses on:
* how food was used to forge national identities in Latin America
* the influence of Italian and Chinese Diaspora on the US and Latin America food culture
* how food was fractured along class lines in the French bourgeois restaurant culture and working class cafes
* the results of state intervention in food production
* how the impact of genetic modification and food crises has affected the relationship between consumer and product.
This concise and readable survey not only presents a simple history of food and its consumption, but also provides a unique examination of world historyitself.

Book review: The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov or The Anatomy of Fascism

Food Shelf Life Stability

Author: NA Michael Eskin

Food Shelf Life Stability provides a unique approach tounderstanding this critical subject by examining physical, chemical, and biochemical factors affecting food quality.

The first section emphasizes the effects that water activity, glass transition, and plasticization have on temperature, water content, and time-dependant phenomena affecting the shelf life of low and intermediate moisture foods.

The remaining chapters discuss how mechanical handling and temperature, irradiation, and packaging all influence shelf life. Section two, on chemical factors, examines the benefits of controlled atmosphere storage and modified atmosphere packaging on vegetables, fruits, grains, and oilseeds. The remaining chapters compare the effectiveness of antioxidants, emulsifiers, stabilizers, and sulfur dioxide to enhance food quality. The remaining chapter in this section deals with the application of biotechnology for improving shelf life.

Intended for food science professionals as well as students, Food Shelf Life Stability presents the fundamental principles that are applied to maintaining a high food quality for an extended period of time.

Booknews

Presents fundamental principles for maintaining high quality in food over an extended period. Discusses the physical, biochemical, and microbiological factors that affect the shelf life of food products and looks at variables that can enhance their stability. Examines the effects of water activity, glass transition, and plasticization on temperature, water content, and time-dependent phenomena that affect shelf life, and also discusses ways by which mechanical handling, temperature, irradiation, and packaging influence shelf life. Eskin is affiliated with the department of foods and nutrition at the University of Manitoba, Canada; Robinson with the department of food science at Leeds University, England. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Table of Contents:

Physical Factors

Water Activity and Plasticization, Dr. Yrjö H. Roos

Mechanical and Temperature Effects, Dr. L. G. Tabil and Dr. S. Sokhansanj

Irradiation, Dr. G. Blank and Dr. R. Cummings

Packaging, Dr. M. A. Tung, I.A. Briggs, and S. Yada

Chemical Factors

Controlled and Modified Atmosphere, Dr. G. Mazza and Dr. D. S. Jayas

Antioxidants, Dr. N.A.M. Eskin and Dr. R. Przybylski

Emulsifiers and Stabilizers, Dr. N. Garti

Sulfer Dioxide, Dr. B. T. Wedzicha

Biochemical Factors

Oxidoreductases, Dr. D.S. Robinson

Biotechnology, Dr. A. G. Alpuche-Solis and Dr. O. Parades-Lopez