Starch Handbook Cereal and tuber starches:
their nature and performance in foods
(CCFRA Review No 51)
CCFRA Technology Ltd 2006
ISBN 13 978-0-905942-86-5 115pp, £120 ca, $300
(non-members of CCFRA)
CCFRA Technology Ltd, Chipping Campden, Glos, GL 6LD, UK
Tel: +44 1386 842000; fax: +44 1386 842100
email: pubs@campden.co.uk, web: www.campden.co.uk.
Dr
Robin Guy is Senior Research Associate to the Baking and Cereal Processing
Department of Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association (CCFRA).
As a carbohydrate chemist with industrial experience he is eminently qualified
to produce a handbook of this nature and has done so very well.
This book is divided into seven chapters which describe starch itself, how basic forms are produced, using dry milling for cereals and wet milling for cereals and tubers, production of different modified starch types by chemical methods and heat processes, determination of starch itself and its physical and chemical properties, and the performance of starch-based materials in fluid, semi-moist and hard brittle foods.
How well is this broad range of topics covered in a book of only 155 pages? The answer is very well, especially in the light of its target audience and the applied nature of its intended use. Specific aspects of starch technology are covered, for example resistant starch and retrogradation. Al-though there are a few items such as glycemic index which are not covered, these are somewhat peripheral to the intended application of the handbook. In particular its focus on the performance and role of starch and its derivatives, and their selection for specific product categories, should prove valuable to its readers. This is supported by basic science components such as measurement of starch physical and chemical properties, glass transition behaviour, production and behaviour of physically and chemically modified starches, and the area of normal, waxy and high amylose starches.
Presentation of the text is of a high standard; it is well written, free of typographical and production errors and the figures and tables are easy to follow. The reader is assisted by an index, although perhaps not as exhaustive as some may wish. However this reviewer had little trouble locating specific items not listed in the index from chapter details in the Table of Contents. There are also over 90 references listed at the end of the text, all appropriately up-to-date. References are generally not cited close to relevant topics in the text; again some may feel that this is not sufficient but in the context of the length of the text, target audience, and intended use, it is satisfactory.
The target market for the book is food technologists and industrialists interested in developing and producing foods products with starch-type ingredients. It should be a valuable tool for these people, but reading it suggests that, despite its design as a handbook, its basic science content means it would also be a useful reference text for courses in introductory food science and technology, and food product development, at tertiary level, as an adjunct to in-house training for industrial research and development staff, and also as a resource for teachers of food technology at high school level. The book should be useful to these groups although the cost to non-members of CCFRA may be a deterrent to some potential users. However, it should be a sound investment for these readers and it is recommended to them and to laboratories and libraries associated with the food industry, tertiary organisations and high school food technology teaching.
Dr Michael Wootton FAIFST, Adjunct Associate Professor, Food Science and Technology, School of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Chemistry, The University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052.
CRC Desk Reference for Nutrition (2nd
ed)
CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group 2006
ISBN 13 978 0 8493 3835 9 518pg £53.99 cA$135
On-line sales, web: www.taylorandfrancis.com.
This
desk reference book is arranged alphabetically by subject and has several
useful appendices of metabolic pathways. The preface to the Second Edition
states that it contains “terms of interest to the nutritionist …
medical, food science, metabolic, physiologic, drug, and nutrition terms”,
but in fact, there were few useful entries about foods.
By a desk reference one assumes a print book of an appropriate size to keep on one’s desk for quick reference. What kind of quick reference might a nutritionist or food scientist need? When needing to check facts quickly, presumably, names of nutrients and other food components, chemical formulae, food sources, recommended nutrient intakes, metabolic pathways, signs of nutritional disorders and lists of treatments spring first to mind. By this criterion, the coverage is patchy with few chemical formulae or chemical definitions. There are some useful tables, eg one of conversion factors for values in clinical chemistry (SI units), and another on medicinal plants, possibly of use when evaluating the diets of particular clients.
There are quite a few curious inclusions (eg “apathy”, “lethargy”). There are some errors, eg the entry for “kilocalorie” gives an incorrect conversion factor for kilojoules at 4.189, while it is correct in the entry for “Calorie (kilocalorie)”.
This second Edition (2006) was brought up to date from the First Edition (1998) by deletion of food tables and other references and replacement of these with URLs to American websites that contain them. This leads to the main drawback to the use of the book in Australia, its reliance on American references, eg dietary and nutrition recommendations, units of measurements, drug names, food composition. Another drawback is the availability to many nutritionists of information in on-line reputable encyclopedias held by libraries, and of course, the information freely available via Google on one’s desktop.
It is doubtful that this desk reference would be useful outside America either by individual or library purchase.
Prof Heather Greenfield, Adjunct Professor University of New South Wales, Kensington NSW.
