Food Q&i& and Refknccr Vol. 9, No. 4, pp.

291-292, 1998
0 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Printed in Great Britain
ELSEVIER 0950-3293/98 $19.00 +O.OO

BOOKREVIEWS
PII:80950-3293(98)00001-9

Ed. J.-L. Multon; Trans. Lance Dieter; Eds (English language edn) W. J. Stadelman and Bruce A. Watkins

Analysis of Food Constituents 1997.5 10 pp. ISBN O-47 l- some cases are not cited at all. It is, therefore, very
18966-g difficult to know from the text what is the preferred or
accepted method in France. Often descriptions are so
This book is part of a series which have been translated brief as to make it almost impossible to reproduce the
from the French. This particular book will, according to techniques described. It may be that if one had all four
the English language editors “be a convenient source of volumes in the set available, some of the gaps in this
information on the chemical analysis of food components particular volume would be filled by the other volumes;
for the manufacture, marketing and labelling of food however, there is no cross-referencing between volumes
products”. and it therefore is difficult to believe that this is the case.
The first thing that strikes one about the book on read- Having been so negative, it is worth mentioning one
ing the contents page is its apparent comprehensiveness. or two bright spots. The first chapter on measurement
Topics covered include water, minerals, carbohydrates, of water absorbed in food is an excellent account of the
lipids, proteins, enzymic activity and almost all the classical methods of measuring the water content and
minor components that might be of interest including absorbed water in foods and does give a very compre-
radioactive contamination and detection of ionised foods. hensive table of the norms which are applicable. This
The authors are almost exclusively French. On the whole chapter is well worth having for anybody who is inter-
the translation is adequate but in some places rather ested in the measurement of water content although,
clumsy and, regrettably in one or two places, simply like most of the other chapters, it is sadly lacking in
wrong. However, as far as I could see, nowhere was the recent references.
meaning of the text seriously changed by the translation The chapter on mycotoxins was also comprehensive
and the quality of the translation, therefore, does not and useful and interestingly contained references as late
represent a serious defect in the book. as 1995. It is very difficult to understand why these
Rather more serious is the cursory way in which authors were able to put in post-1990 references and
most of the topics are treated and the lack of up to date most other authors seemed to be unable to do so.
references. Very few post-1990 references are quoted I was left wondering what really the point of
anywhere. In at least one chapter, that on non-enzy- translating this book was. With the exception of the
matic determinations of carbohydrates, most of the chapters I have mentioned, I cannot believe that it
references are pre-1980. This is really a serious defect represents a very valuable addition to the modern lit-
for a book published in 1997. It might be argued that erature, although I believe an expanded and updated
the lack of references is not too important provided that version could be of enormous value as a reference
adequate reference is made to standard methods and volume.
norms. However, here there is also a problem: norms
and standard methods are not cited consistently and in P. S. Belton

PII:SO950-3293(98)00004-I

Harry T. Lawless & Hildegarde Heymann

International Thomson Publishing Services Ltd, Cheriton House, North Way, Andover SPlO 5BE, U.K.

Sensory Evaluation of Food-Principles and Practices of disciplines, including biology, physics, chemistry, psy-
1998. 819 pp. E49.00. 0-1412-99441-O Hb chology, engineering and statistics. This complexity
inevitably contributes to the scarcity of trained sensory
Practising sensory scientists are acutely aware that their scientists that afflicts the food (and other) industries in
subject demands knowledge of elements of a wide range most western countries. The authors of this new book

291
292 Book Reviews

note that the only truly comprehensive teaching text couple of CDs and a few designer drinks to own the
available to date is the classic book by Amerine et al., best general text on the market.
(Principles of Sensory Evaluation of Food. Academic Press, As a text for sensory researchers and practitioners in
New York, 1965) which is now over 30 years old. This industry, the book is slightly less successful. Although
new and ambitious text aims to cover comprehensively an enormous amount of information is contained in its
both the principles and the practice of all aspects of pages, specific details are often difficult to find in
sensory science. It is aimed primarily at university-level unbroken text that can cover several pages. More struc-
students, but in view of its wide scope is clearly looking ture, with key points more easily identified, would
to appeal to a wider market of sensory practitioners. make the book much easier to use, as would a con-
In 19 chapters and just under 650 pages in the main solidated reference list. More seriously, in presenting
text, it is difficult to find any key aspect of sensory sci- conflicting arguments for and against different princi-
ence that is not covered at some level. The importance ples and procedures, industrial users will frequently be
of statistical analysis of sensory data is stressed particu- unable to find the clear guidance that they need to give
larly strongly, and basic principles of statistics are cov- a rapid response to the needs of their companies. In
ered in a final set of appendices covering a further 150 particular, practising sensory analysts in industry may
pages. Although important historical developments in find difficulty in relating their world to the world of the
the field are outlined, the primary focus of the author’s authors. A classic example lies at the end of the excel-
focus is on more recent and possible future develop- lent discussion on Statistical Power and Test Sensitivity,
ments, and references to literature published up to and where the authors, in recommending numbers of asses-
including 1997 can be found. The content has a strong sors for ongoing discrimination testing, suggest using a
American leaning, with the views of the ASTM com- panel of 50 screened assessors in replicated tests. Whilst
mittees and the research work of the authors featuring the scientific arguments for using such numbers are
strongly. This does not in any way detract from the convincing, where does this leave the industrial practi-
value of this book to anyone needing a single reference tioner in small/medium companies? In the absence of
text to hand. Controversial topics are given particularly advice on how to deal with such common situations,
detailed treatment, and opposing views are presented there is a real danger that companies will simply turn
and analysed with a critical eye. away from formal sensory testing.
This book succeeds admirably in providing, in a These reservations should be balanced, however,
single volume, the basis for most undergraduate level against the enormous value of this impressive volume.
course requirements and, in conjunction with other This review copy has already been used heavily, and
more specialised texts, the basis for graduate teaching no, I’m very sorry, you can’t borrow it-buy your own.
programmes. The price of this book is astonishingly
low, and any student will need only to sacrifice a David Kilcast