692 Book Reviews
and abounds in literature citations, tables, drawings and
equations and contains a wealth of information on food
additives. It is an invaluable resource book for food
scientists and technologists, food toxicologists, micro-
biologists, biochemists, food safety experts, public
health professionals and for graduate students working
in any of these applied areas.
James P. Smith
Food colour and appearance. J. B. Hutchings, 1st edition,
Blackie Academic & Professional from Chapman &
Hall, 1994. 513 pp. ISBN O-751401765.
This book deals with the aspect of food colour as
related to its appearance and implications in food
acceptance. The book is directed at food scientists,
sensory scientists, colour and flavour chemists and those
involved in industrial research and development. The
book is divided into eleven chapters. The first chapter is
an overview of food colour and appearance; in this
chapter the author made an attempt to put the colour of
food into some form of evolutionary context, giving an
account for the place occupied by food colour in our
every-day lives. Chapter two summarizes the philosophy
of total appearance and describes its place within
perception as a whole, taking into consideration the
evolutionary, historical and cultural aspects of food
appearance. Chapter three overviews the light and its
interaction with food materials. Chapter four deals with
the phenomenon of vision as related to the evaluation of
food colour and recommends that those within the food
industry who select and grade raw materials and
products on the basis of colour ought to be chosen with
care. Chapter five describes the sensory assessment of
appearance and methods used, including the selection
and training of qualified panels as well as the physical
requirements for food appearance assessment. Chapter
six addresses the analysis of appearance profile and
sensory scales on the basis of colour and appearance
descriptors such as visual, structural and textural.
Chapter seven contains a description of the instru-
mental specification of colour, translucency and gloss
which forms the bridge between vision and the practical
optical measurements used in appearance specification;
emphasis has been placed on those aspects with wide
applicability to the food industry. Chapter eight
addresses particularly the principles of colour measure-
ment as applied to different physical forms of food.
Indeed, reliable measurements are available; however,
the sample properties are critical. Therefore, certain
facts such as sample types and sample presentation
should be considered. Chapter nine is devoted to the
specification and measurement of object properties
other than colour, including physical form, translucency,
gloss, uniformity and pattern, temporal properties and
analysis of complex senses. Chapter ten is centered on
the chemical implications of processing and manu-
facture as related to food colour; the chapter divides
food colorants into three groups: natural colorants,
browning, and other additives. Chapter eleven deals
with three aspects of food display: photochemistry,
colour rendering in retail food display and in on-line
inspection, and colour and total appearance in the store,
on the table and in the restaurant. Overall, this book is
a good reference for food scientists involved in the area
of food colorants and could be useful for those in
academia and in industry.
S. Kermasha
Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition special
issue. Proceedings of the ILSI N.A. Workshop on
Substantiation of the Impact of Nutrient and Non-
nutrient Antioxidants on Health.
This book contains the proceedings of a 1993 workshop
held by the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI),
a World Health Organization affiliate established “in
1978 to advance the understanding of scientific issues
relating to nutrition, food safety, toxicology, and the
environment.” The workshop was convened by the ILSI
North American Subcommittee on Physiologically
Functional Foods for Health Promotion. An increasing
interest in marketing of nutritionally enhanced foods
makes it desirable to allow labelling claims that could
decrease the magnitude of the current North American
distinction between food and drugs.
The objectives of the workshop were to focus on
critical evaluation of existing data that may support
positive impact from nutrient and non-nutrient
antioxidants on human health, identification of a useful
scientific evaluation framework, and identification of
research steps to provide better understanding of the
area.
The book contains contributions from 17 authors in
six sections:
(i) FDA’s public health goals in evaluating health
claims (1 chapter),
(ii) The role of free radicals and antioxidants (2 chap-
ters),
(iii) Critical assessment of the impact of nutrient and
non-nutrient antioxidants on health: cancer and
cardiovascular disease (5 chapters),
(iv) Response panel on the impact of nutrient and
non-nutrient antioxidants on cancer and cardio-
vascular disease,
(v) Critical assessment of the impact of nutrient and
non-nutrient antioxidants on health: cataracts
and physical performance (2 chapters)