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Books in Agricultural and biological sciences

The Agricultural and Biological Sciences collection advances science-based knowledge for the improvement of animal and plant life and for secure food systems that produce nutritious, novel, sustainable foods with minimal environmental impact. Food Science titles include not only those products from agriculture but all other aspects from food production to nutrition, health and safety, chemistry to security, policy, law and regulation. Biological Sciences address animal behaviour and biodiversity, organismal and evolutionary biology, entomology, marine biology and aquaculture, plant science and forestry.

  • Auditing in the Food Industry

    From Safety and Quality to Environmental and Other Audits
    • 1st Edition
    • M Dillon + 1 more
    • English
    The food industry faces an unprecedented level of scrutiny. Consumers are not only concerned with the safety and quality of food products but also the way in which they are produced. At the same time the food industry has developed new ways of assuring appropriate standards for its products and their methods of production, developing systems such as TQM and HACCP to identify and manage key steps in production. These new methods require new skills in auditing. Auditing in the food industry provides an authoritative guide to the range of standards and the auditing skills they demand.Part one sets the scene with an introductory chapter reviewing developments in standards affecting the food industry. There then follows chapters on how retailers audit their suppliers and how governments have moved from a traditional inspection role to one of 'regulatory verification' with its emphasis on auditing the robustness of a business's own systems for managing safety and quality.Part two examines the key aspects of safety and quality. A first chapter reviews the ways retailers assess supplier HACCP systems. There is then a chapter reviewing TQM systems that provides a context for a discussion of auditing techniques for HACCP-based quality systems. A final chapter looks at standards governing the analytical methods used in safety and quality control.Part three considers newer standards that are becoming increasingly important in the food industry. There are chapters on benchmarking an organisation against others as a way of improving performance, auditing the impact of food processing operations on the environment and auditing organic food processing.Auditing in the food industry is a valuable guide to the range of standards facing the food industry and the ways it can audit, and thus improve the quality of its performance.
  • Advances in Insect Physiology

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 28
    • English
    Advances in Insect Physiology is committed to publishing eclectic volumes containing comprehensive and in-depth reviews on all aspects of insect physiology. First published in 1963, it is an essential reference source for invertebrate physiologists and neurobiologists, entomologists, zoologists, and insect biochemists.In 1999, the Institute for Scientific Information released figures showing that Advances in Insect Physiology has an Impact Factor of 4.5, placing it second in the highly competitive category of Entomology.
  • Introduction to Food Engineering

    • 3rd Edition
    • R. Paul Singh + 1 more
    • English
    Food engineering is a required class in food science programs, as outlined by the Institute for Food Technologists (IFT). The concepts and applications are also required for professionals in food processing and manufacturing to attain the highest standards of food safety and quality.The third edition of this successful textbook succinctly presents the engineering concepts and unit operations used in food processing, in a unique blend of principles with applications. The authors use their many years of teaching to present food engineering concepts in a logical progression that covers the standard course curriculum. Each chapter describes the application of a particular principle followed by the quantitative relationships that define the related processes, solved examples, and problems to test understanding.
  • Extrusion Cooking

    Technologies and Applications
    • 1st Edition
    • R Guy
    • English
    Extrusion cooking is an ideal method for manufacturing a number of food products from snacks and breakfast cereals to baby foods. However, as a complex multivariate process it requires careful control if product quality is to be maintained. Edited by a leading authority in the field, and with an international team of contributors, this important collection reviews the key factors affecting quality and how they can be controlled in manufacturing a range of extruded products.The first part of Extrusion Cooking</> looks at general influences on quality. There are chapters on the selection of raw materials, criteria for selecting the right extruder, analysing and optimising thermal performance in extrusion cooking, and effective process control. There is also an important chapter on maintaining nutritional quality in extruded products.The second part of the book looks at the application of extrusion in particular product groups. Each chapter examines the range of extruded products within the product group, the specific production issues and future trends. It also includes chapters on key products such as breakfast cereals, snack foods and baby foods.Extrusion cooking will be widely welcomed as a major reference in maximising the quality of extruded products.
  • Insect Timing

    Circadian Rhythmicity to Seasonality
    • 1st Edition
    • D.L. Denlinger + 2 more
    • English
    Leading experts in the field bring together diverse aspects of insect timing mechanisms. This work combines three topics that are central to the understanding of biological timing in insects: circadian rhythms, photoperiodism, and diapause. The common theme underlining each of the contributions to this book is an understanding of the timing of events in the insect life cycle. Most daily activities (emergence, feeding, mating, egg laying, etc.) undertaken by insects occur at precise times each day. Likewise, seasonal events such as the entry into or termination from an overwintering dormancy (diapause) occur at distinct times of the year. This book documents such events and provides an up-to-date interpretation of the molecular and physiological events undergirding these activities.The study of circadian rhythms has undergone a flowering in recent years with the molecular dissection of the components of the circadian clock. Now that many of the clock genes have been identified it is possible to track daily patterns of clock-related mRNAs and proteins to link the entraining light cycles with molecular oscillations within the cell. Insect experiments have led the way in demonstrating that the concept of a "master clock" can no longer be used to explain the temporal organization within an animal. Insects have a multitude of cellular clocks that can function independently and retain their function under organ culture conditions, and they thus offer a premier system for studying how the hierarchical organization of clocks results in the overall temporal organization of the animal. Photoperiodism, and its most obvious manifestation, diapause, does not yet have the molecular underpinning that has been established for circadian rhythms, but recent studies are beginning to identify genes that appear to be involved in the regulation of diapause. Overall, the book presents the rich diversity of challenges and opportunities provided by insects for the study of timing mechanisms.
  • Handbook of Vegetable Pests

    • 1st Edition
    • John Capinera
    • English
    Garden pests plague everyone who has ever raised vegetables, from backyard gardener to professional horticulturists, farm managers, and agrobusiness professionals. The economic impacts of vegetable pests are enormous. To manage and minimize the adverse impacts of pests, it is important to identify exactly which pests are afflicting crops. The Handbook of Vegetable Pests is intended to assist anyone in need of an easy-to-use, and yet comprehensive, survey of all pests likely to be encountered in North America. This Handbook provides thorough identification guides, descriptions of pest life history, and pest management recommendations. The text is well illustrated with hundreds of easy-to-use line drawings, is cross-referenced to the professional and scientific literature, and includes color plates for ease of insect pest identification. Every gardener, horticulturalist, farm manager, and plant science professional should have this Handbook as a ready desk reference.
  • Food Process Modelling

    • 1st Edition
    • L M M Tijskens + 2 more
    • English
    Food process modelling provides an authoritative review of one of the most exciting and influential developments in the food industry. The modelling of food processes allows analysts not only to understand such processes more clearly but also to control them more closely and make predictions about them. Modelling thus aids the search for greater and more consistent food quality. Written by a distinguished international team of experts, Food process modelling covers both the range of modelling techniques and their practical applications across the food chain.
  • EU Food Law

    A Practical Guide
    • 1st Edition
    • K Goodburn
    • English
    Given its fragmented development, EU food law can be seen as both complex and confusing. With its distinguished team of contributors, EU food law highlights the key issues so those non-specialists can understand the legislation and what it means for them. It is designed to help readers ask the right questions when developing and marketing products in the European Union, and to provide answers to those questions.The book begins with an overview of the development of EU food law, and then describes the main institutions involved in framing food legislation and the legislative process. This discussion is designed to provide a context for the chapters on specific aspects of EU food law that follow. Part one there are a series of chapters on legislation controlling food safety, ranging from the way food products are manufactured (hygiene and the control of contaminants) to food composition and packaging (additives and food contact materials). Part two considers how EU food law ensures that consumers are properly informed about the food products they buy. There are chapters on labelling, nutrition information, the increasingly important area of health claims, and the handling of foods for particular nutritional purposes. Part three of the book contains two case studies illustrating how these various strands of EU food law impact in practice on a particular food product, looking at both an established food ingredient and the emerging area of functional foods.EU food law provides an authoritative introduction and guide to a complex subject. It will be widely welcomed by all those designing food products for and selling food products in the European Union.
  • Postharvest Diseases of Fruits and Vegetables

    Development and Control
    • 1st Edition
    • R. Barkai-Golan
    • English
    Focusing on the great variety of research being done in the field of postharvest pathology, this volume presents a collection of topics concerning the diseases of harvested fruits and vegetables.Each chapter represents a separate unit which taken together create a better understanding of the whole subject. Topics include the causal agents of postharvest diseases of fruits and vegetables, their sources and their ways of penetration into the host; factors that may accelerate the development of the pathogen in the host - and those that suppress them; a list of the main pathogens of fruits and vegetables, their hosts and the diseases elicited by them; and a detailed description of the major diseases of selected groups of fruits and solanaceous vegetable fruits. Attack mechanisms of pathogens and defense mechanisms of the host are examined as are treatments aimed at suppressing postharvest diseases. The search for natural and safe chemical compounds and the variety of alternative physical and biological methods for use in postharvest disease control are emphasized.Teachers and students who focus on postharvest pathology, scientists in research institutes, companies dealing with fruit and vegetable preservation technologies and for all those striving to improve the quality of harvested fruits and vegetables will find this book of great interest.
  • The International Spirits Industry

    • 1st Edition
    • John Wakely
    • English
    Although consumption of spirits on a global scale is vast, the spirits industry derives its profits from a relatively small number of countries and product lines. This valuable book provides an overview of all aspects of the industry, covering all major categories of spirits, and contains a wealth of information on trading statistics, regulations and consumption patterns. It discusses the challenges facing the giant companies, profiling the leading companies in detail, and assesses whether their structure is appropriate to long-term success in the industry.The international spirits industry offers the most comprehensive picture currently available of the dynamics and structure of this fascinating business and shows:How spirits fit into the global business in alcoholic beveragesWhy the image and popular perception of the alcohol business is so importantHow health concerns are likely to affect the future of the businessHow spirits are produced, regulated, distributed and taxedHow consumption patterns are changing and why women are becoming more important to the industryWhat strategies companies can adopt for building brandsHow profitable the industry is and how the major players are adapting themselves to new challenges such as the InternetDespite the age of alcohol production, the business is in a state of flux with little agreement as to its future. This book provides a valuable insight into this changeable situation and is a unique resource for analysts and economists and all those involved in the production, distribution and sales of spirits worldwide.