Book Reviews Trends in Food Science & Technology 20 (2009) 182e183

Trans Fatty Acidsedited by Albert J. Dijkstra, Richard J. Hamilton, and Wolf Hamm; Published by Blackwell

Publishing. 2008 ISBN: 978e1d4051e5691-2. 240 pages

The topic of trans fatty acids has received

increasing attention in recent years, espe-

cially amongst lipid researchers, nutritionists,

and those in the health and food industries.

This volume is a timely and impressive re-

source for those interested and working in

such fields. The editors should be com-

mended for their extensive compilation of

current information and perspectives on trans

fatty acids. This book is pleasingly interdisci-

plinary, successfully covering nutrition and

health aspects of trans fatty acids, as well as

food science issues and methodologies rele-

vant to the food industry.

Trans Fatty Acids is well-organized into

nine chapters, each with its own reference

list, followed by a complete index at the

end of the book. In my opinion, the primary

strength of the book is its comprehensive

approach; it covers basic lipid chemistry, nu-

trition, health and disease, and food science,

and gives adequate attention to current meth-

odologies being used in the food industry.

Overall, the book is impressive in its amal-

gamation of perspectives from interrelated

fields, without becoming burdensome to the

reader. It is somewhat unfortunate that the

chosen book title fails to reflect the breadth

of knowledge and range of interdisciplinary

perspectives found within the book. Never-

theless, the contents of the book do not

disappoint.

In Trans Fatty Acids, experts in the field of

fats and oils explore the structure, properties

and sources of trans fatty acids, before dis-

cussing current trans fatty acid intakes and

related health implications, including effects

on heart disease, diabetes and cancer. There

is some discussion of legislation issues al-

though, given the dynamics of the field, it

is questionable how long this information

will stay current. Chapter three is dedicated

solely to conjugated linoleic acid; it is re-

markably comprehensive with helpful, well-

organized summary tables, and an extensive

reference list. Starting with chapter four, the

remainder of the book offers information

and perspectives on analytical methods for

determining trans fatty acid composition,

and processing techniques and modern ap-

proaches for minimizing trans fatty acids in

foods. Recent applications and develop-

ments in the food industry regarding trans

fatty acids are discussed in suitable detail

with plenty of diagrams, tables and equations

to appeal to the expert, yet written in

a manner that can be duly understood by

the non-expert. The last two chapters focus

on food products and nicely complete the

book for those interested in recent develop-

ments in food applications of trans fatty acids

or food products without trans fatty acids.

Overall, Trans Fatty Acids provide a wealth

of current information in the form of text, fig-

ures, graphs, tables and pictures and exten-

sive reference lists. While certain chapters

are indeed loaded with figures, abbreviations

and technical jargon that may be more

appealing to the basic science researcher or

academic, most of the book has a reader-

friendly style, especially those chapters per-

taining to intakes and health implications of

trans fatty acids or recent advances in the

food industry.

Overall, Trans Fatty Acids will be an excel-

lent resource for senior undergraduate and

graduate students, researchers in the fields

of lipid chemistry, nutritional and food sci-

ences, and professionals working in these

fields. Given the increasing attention to trans

fatty acids among scientists, the food indus-

try, and government agencies, a book dedi-

cated to trans fatty acids is a timely addition

to this field.

Lindsay RobinsonDepartment of Human Health and

Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph,Guelph, ON, Canada

E-mail: lrobinso@uoguelph.ca

doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2009.01.007

Food Preservation by Pulsed Electric Fields:From Research to Applicationedited by H.L.M. Lelieveld, S. Notermans and S.W.D. de Haan. Woodhead Publishing Ltd.,

October 2007, ISBN 1 84569 058 3, 384 pages £145.00/US$275.00/V180.00

Over the past two decades, research on

pulsed electric field processing has attracted

a lot of attention. Although its potential in

food and bio-processing as a preservation

technology, its use in permeabilization of

plant or animal material (e.g. increasing the

extraction yield in different applications)

and its potential to induce stress response re-

actions (e.g. in the context of the production

of foods with a high concentration of func-

tional constituents) have been indicated, the

industrial application is still very limited but

increasing.

This book presents a state of the art view on

food preservation by pulsed electric fields

including aspects of research, scale up and

application. The book is well written and

timely. The book is written by specialists in

the field including a number of key players

from a large scale research and development

consortium established in the Netherlands.

The book is building around four sections

(i) introductory material, (ii) technology, (iii)

product safety and quality and (vi) applica-

tions. Two introductory chapters are placing

pulsed electric field processing in the context

of food preservation as well as in an historical

context. The chapter on the history of pulsed

electric field processing nicely illustrates the

long way of research, scale up and imple-

mentation from end of the 19th century until

today showing the increased research activi-

ties from the 1980s to today and the recent

installations at industrial scale.

The part on technology contains five chap-

ters dealing with (i) circuitry and pulse shapes

in pulsed electric field treatment of food, (ii)

chamber design and process conditions for

pulsed electric field treatment of food, (iii)

electrochemistry in pulsed electric field treat-

ment chambers, (iv) hygienic design of

pulsed electric field installations and (v) tech-

nical and occupational safety requirements

when treating foods by pulsed electric fields.

The merit of this book is that it not only gives

an up to date overview on the technical as-

pects (circuitry, pulse shapes and chamber

design including the issue of temperature uni-

formity) but also includes specific chapters

on electrochemistry and hygienic design