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Hurdle Technologies. Combination Treatments for Food Stability, Safety and Quality. Food Engineering Series
224
Book reviews
Hurdle Technologies. Combination Treatments for Food Stability, Safety and Quality. Food Engineering Series Editors: Lothar Leistner and Grahame Gould, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publisher, New York, xiii+194 pages, hardback, 144.50 o/125.00 USD/88.90 GBP; ISBN 0-306-47263-5; http://www.wkap.nl Two of the grand old men in Food Safety, Lothar Leistner and Grahame Gould, have combined to coauthor what is likely to be a benchmark treatise on the application of hurdle technology for food preservation. Further introduction of the two scientists is hardly necessary, but for information of the young generation should be mentioned that Leistner has retired as a Director of the German Meat Research Institute and Gould has likewise retired from the research bench at Unilever where he addressed basic principles of food safety. In the Introduction chapter, the major current food preservation technologies, including useful tables on the impact of temperature, pH, redox potential, preservatives, emerging physical preservation technologies, etc., on the microbiology of food, is overviewed. It is stressed that the limits listed only apply if all other factors are optimal for the microorganisms in question. But this is hardly the case in any foodstuff. If more than one of the preservative factors (hurdles) is present, then an additive or even synergistic effect results, the basis of the hurdle effect and the intentional hurdle technology subsequentley discussed. The hurdle concept and basic aspects of this are discussed in several chapters. Subjects as homeostasis, the mechanisms which act to ensure that key physiological activities in the microorganisms remain unperturbed, stress reactions to, e.g., acidification, heat, temperature, metabolic exhaustion, etc., are detailed in depth, a quite interesting analysis for those interested in the well being, or the opposite, of food-borne microbes.
Larger sections follow on the application of the hurdle concepts in industrialised countries as well as in developing countries. The different categories of shelf-stable products (SSP) and their primary hurdles such as pH-SSP are explained. The hurdle technology in developing countries is elaborated on subcontinent by subcontinent. It is recommended that all persons involved in food microbiology in that part of the world take advantage of the information given, which, in the same token, serves as detailed information on the methods of preservation applied and the microbes involved in challenging the safety of the products. Numerous abbreviations are used throughout the book. They are of course explained the first place of use, but considerable time may be used going backward in the text if you have forgotten. The book would have benefited by including a list of abbreviations; the Index is not sufficient in that respect. Hurdle Technologies is a source of information for expert developers and technologists in industry, as well as for experts in academia and newcomers to the field, such as students of food microbiology, engineering and technology. It is a useful scientific contribution to the understanding of having to ensure safe food production, and deserves wide application. Niels Skovgaard Jakob Knudsensvej 18, 3460 Birkerød, Denmark E-mail address: [email protected] Tel./fax: +45-45-813936 19 March 2003
doi:10.1016/S0168-1605(03)00370-2
Book reviews
Hurdle Technologies. Combination Treatments for Food Stability, Safety and Quality. Food Engineering Series Editors: Lothar Leistner and Grahame Gould, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publisher, New York, xiii+194 pages, hardback, 144.50 o/125.00 USD/88.90 GBP; ISBN 0-306-47263-5; http://www.wkap.nl Two of the grand old men in Food Safety, Lothar Leistner and Grahame Gould, have combined to coauthor what is likely to be a benchmark treatise on the application of hurdle technology for food preservation. Further introduction of the two scientists is hardly necessary, but for information of the young generation should be mentioned that Leistner has retired as a Director of the German Meat Research Institute and Gould has likewise retired from the research bench at Unilever where he addressed basic principles of food safety. In the Introduction chapter, the major current food preservation technologies, including useful tables on the impact of temperature, pH, redox potential, preservatives, emerging physical preservation technologies, etc., on the microbiology of food, is overviewed. It is stressed that the limits listed only apply if all other factors are optimal for the microorganisms in question. But this is hardly the case in any foodstuff. If more than one of the preservative factors (hurdles) is present, then an additive or even synergistic effect results, the basis of the hurdle effect and the intentional hurdle technology subsequentley discussed. The hurdle concept and basic aspects of this are discussed in several chapters. Subjects as homeostasis, the mechanisms which act to ensure that key physiological activities in the microorganisms remain unperturbed, stress reactions to, e.g., acidification, heat, temperature, metabolic exhaustion, etc., are detailed in depth, a quite interesting analysis for those interested in the well being, or the opposite, of food-borne microbes.
Larger sections follow on the application of the hurdle concepts in industrialised countries as well as in developing countries. The different categories of shelf-stable products (SSP) and their primary hurdles such as pH-SSP are explained. The hurdle technology in developing countries is elaborated on subcontinent by subcontinent. It is recommended that all persons involved in food microbiology in that part of the world take advantage of the information given, which, in the same token, serves as detailed information on the methods of preservation applied and the microbes involved in challenging the safety of the products. Numerous abbreviations are used throughout the book. They are of course explained the first place of use, but considerable time may be used going backward in the text if you have forgotten. The book would have benefited by including a list of abbreviations; the Index is not sufficient in that respect. Hurdle Technologies is a source of information for expert developers and technologists in industry, as well as for experts in academia and newcomers to the field, such as students of food microbiology, engineering and technology. It is a useful scientific contribution to the understanding of having to ensure safe food production, and deserves wide application. Niels Skovgaard Jakob Knudsensvej 18, 3460 Birkerød, Denmark E-mail address: [email protected] Tel./fax: +45-45-813936 19 March 2003
doi:10.1016/S0168-1605(03)00370-2