All consumers have the right to expect and demand good-quality and safe food at affordable

prices. This right was recognized by the participants at the United Nations Conference on Food and
Agriculture, held in the United States (US) in 1943, which laid the foundation for the creation of
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Because of this, food safety and consumer protection
are topics of highest priority. In the same way, producing a food supply safe and of good quality is
a prerequisite to successful domestic and international food trade, and a key to sustainable
development of national agricultural resources. Chemical analysis is a vital component of every
quality management system. Determination of organic contaminants in food needs to continually
refine and explore new technologies to enhance sensitivity, selectivity, separation,
interpreta tion, and adaptability of methodology. Though a well-established field in many senses,
new methods, instruments, and modifications are decisive to analytical chemists and
instrumentalists who are challenged with the identification and quantitation of new and already
recognized xenobiotics of health concern. This book treats different aspects of the analysis of
contaminants and residues in food, and highlights some current concerns facing this field. The
content is initiated by an overview on food safety, the objectives and importance of determining
contaminants and residues in food, and the problems and challenges associated to these analyses.
This is followed by full details of relevant European and United States regulations. Topics, such as
conventional chromatographic methods, accommodating clean up, and preparing substances for
further instrumental analysis, are encompassed with new analytical techniques that have
significantly been developed over the past few years, like solid phase microextraction, liquid
chromatography-mass spectrometry, immu noassays, and biosensors. A wide range of toxic
contaminants and residues, from pesticides to mycotoxins or dioxins are examined. This book can
be a practical resource that offers ideas on how to choose the most effective techniques for
determining these compounds. The book contains 22 chapters written by different experts in each
field that cover the emerging topics in food contaminants and residue analysis, and it is organized
into three sections: the first one covers the regulatory framework including validation and quality
assurance of analytical methods, the second treats the latest developments in analytical
techniques, and the third provides information about the determination of specific con taminants
and residues in food. Logically structured and with numerous examples Food Contaminants and
Residue Analysis is a valuable tool for food analysis as a reference and trained xxiii guide. The book
is addressed to serve as a general reference for post-graduate students, as well as a practical
reference guide for a wide range of experts: biologists, biochemists, microbiologists, food
chemists, toxicologists, chemists, agronomists, hygienists, and everybody who need to use the
analytical techniques for evaluating food safety. Each chapter contains enough references to the
literature to help as an effective resource for more detailed information. Many people have
collaborated in this project, directly or indirectly, and I would like to acknowledge my deb ts to
them. Prof. Damia` Barcelo´ for the trust put in me to develop this work and for his help and
support through this time; the people from the editorial staff of Elsevier (Andrew Gent, Joan
Annuels, Anne Russum) for their willingness to solve any problem related to the production of the
book and their patience; and finally and foremost, the authors (the edition of this book would not
have been possible without their cooperation) and the readership (you are the ones who will
make the book an integral part of food contaminants and residue research). I hope the book lives
up to the expectations. Yolanda Pico´
Food safety has become a key issue in our society, especially now that much of the food we
consume comes from other parts of the world. The public in general is increasingly concerned
about the quality of the products they consume every day and to meet that need, more
information is being made available in the media. Various cases have become headline news, such
as the dioxin problem in Belgium, antibiotics in shrimps imported from Asia to Europe, and the
high levels of persistent organic pollutants detected in European salmon as compared to the
American salmon. These cases have alerted the authorities and the public in general that more
efforts are needed on food control. In this respect this volume edited by my old friend and
colleague, Yolanda Pico´, is timely and I am delighted I was able to convince her to collate such a
book for the Comprehensive Analytical Chemistry series. This is only the second book on the topic
of food residues in the series. The first, collated by another old friend and colleague, AR Fernandez
Alba, was entitled Pesticide Residues published as Vol. 43 in the series. I am sure that food safety
will be the subject of further volumes in the future. This book contains 19 chapters; the first three
are devoted to general aspects of food analysis. Chapters 4 to 8 cover sample preparation
techniques, chromatographic-mass spectrometric methods, capillary electrophoresis and
immunochemical methods. Chapters 9 to 19 report on analytical applications of a broad range of
contaminants, including pesticides, antibiotics, growth promoters, mycotoxins, phycotoxins,
persistent organic pollutants brominated flame retardants and heterocyclic amine s. The content is
comprehensive and covers most of the problems encountered in food residue analysis, so will act
as a useful reference for those who are new to the field and/or expert food laboratories. The book
discusses most aspects of food contaminant and residue analysis and I expect it will become a key
reference for food residue specialists. Finally I would like to thank not only the editor for compiling
such a world class book but also all the authors for their contributions. D. Barcelo´ Department of
Environmental Chemistry, IIQAB-CSIC Barcelona, Spain