Essentials of Food Science

by Vickie A. Vaclavik, Elizabeth W. Christian

The fourth edition of this classic text continues to use a multidisciplinary approach to expose the non-major food science student to the physical and chemical composition of foods. Additionally, food preparation and processing, food safety, food chemistry, and food technology applications are discussed in this single source of information.

The book begins with an Introduction to Food Components, Quality and Water. Next, it addresses Carbohydrates in Food, Starches, Pectins and Gums. Grains: Cereals, Flour, Rice and Pasta, and Vegetables and Fruits follow.

Proteins in Food, Meat, Poultry, Fish, and Dry Beans; Eggs and Egg Products, Milk and Milk Products as well as Fats and Oil Products, Food Emulsions and Foams are covered. Next, Sugar, Sweeteners, and Confections and a chapter on Baked Products Batters and Dough is presented.

A new section entitled Aspects of Food Processing covers information on Food Preservation, Food Additives, and Food Packaging. Food Safety and Government Regulation of the Food Supply and Labeling are also discussed in this text.

As appropriate, each chapter discusses the nutritive value and safety issues of the highlighted commodity. The USDA My Plate is utilized throughout the chapters. A Conclusion, Glossary and further References as well as Bibliography are included in each chapter.

Appendices at the end of the book include a variety of current topics such as Biotechnology, Functional Foods, Nutraceuticals, Phytochemicals, Medical Foods, USDA Choosemyplate.gov, Food Label Health Claims, Research Chefs Association certification, Human Nutrigenomics and New Product Development.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food Science

519 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1995

Reviews

[Katelin]

This book is really good for a textbook. I actually enjoyed reading it most of the time! :) It explains things really simply and in a way that I could understand.

[Jocelyn]

More of a rant than a review: The editing on this was so very bad. There were evident errors of fact not caught in editing, as well as usage errors. There were several instances of repeated text. There were many passages of text that had clearly been harvested from other sources and just dumped in at the end of a section in order to "update" it, with nothing connecting them to the information that'd come beforehand. I did get some value out of the reading, but it felt like a constant uphill battle. More than once I was tempted to start marking needed changes, but I never did, because as soon as I'd pass one where I'd think, "I'd fix that this way," I'd shortly encounter one that was such a disaster that editing on the page would have been hopeless.

[Bernie4444]

Ancient textbook.

This critter is fun to read and discover how they used to do that. It even contains black-and-white pictures of extinct machines.

This is not another cookbook as it contains the old food pyramid, and such interesting figures as figure 3-6 Sucrose chemical makeup, and figure 6-1 Structure of a wheat kernel.

Be sure not to read this just before you eat.

[Young Min]

Really appreciated how the author simplified it so the general public can pick it up too.

It's a good book to read if you are looking for general knowledge, you should look for another book if you want to get into the details :)