The Nutrition Handbook for Food Processors

Book excerpt: Since Arnold Bender's classic Food processing and nutrition in 1978, there has been no single volume survey of the impact of processing on the nutritional quality of food. With its distinguished editors and international team of contributors, The nutrition handbook for food processors, fills that gap. It summarises the wealth of research in an area as important to the food industry as it is to health-conscious consumers.Part one provides the foundation for the rest of the book, looking at consumers and nutrition. After a discussion of surveys on what consumers eat, there are two reviews of research on the contribution of vitamins and minerals to health. Three further chapters discuss how nutrient intake is measured and at how nutrition information is presented to and interpreted by consumers. Part two looks at processing and nutritional quality. Two introductory chapters look at raw materials, discussing the nutritional enhancement of plant foods and meat respectively. The remaining chapters review the impact of processing, beginning with a general discussion of the stability of vitamins during processing. There are chapters on processes such as thermal processing, frying, freezing, packaging and irradiation. The book also covers newer processes such as microwave processing, ohmic heating and high pressure processing.Given the unprecedented attention on the impact of processing on the nutritional quality of food, The nutrition handbook for food processors is a standard work in its field. - Summarises key findings on diet and nutrient intake, the impact of nutrients on health, and how food processing operations affect the nutritional quality of foods - Examines consumers and nutrition, processing and nutritional quality, and nutritional enhancement of plant foods and meat, among other topics - Reviews the wealth of recent research in an area as important to the food industry as it is to health-conscious consumers