Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

While food is an essential source of energy, nutrients, building materials, and even pleasure, it also contains compounds that can potentially evoke greater or lesser health disorders. Toxins can originate from the raw materials or invade during processing, transportation, and storage. They can be intentionally added in the form of "harmless" food preservatives or health-promoting functional ingredients that can become toxic in combination or under environmental stressors. The continuous physical and biochemical processes that food undergoes indicate that there is always the chance for toxicity in even the most innocuous foods.

Skillfully combining theory and applications, Principles of Food Toxicology presents general and food-specific principles of toxicology with vivid examples of food-related poisons and poisonings from around the world. Beginning with an introduction to the principles of toxicology at the molecular, cellular, and organism level, the author uses highly detailed, yet accessible information, to emphasize the biochemical mechanisms of toxic effects. He explains the routes of absorption, metabolism, and elimination; toxic response; the determination of foreign substances; and the evaluation of toxicity and risk analysis. The second part is a systemic characterization of the most important food borne toxicants. The book divides a wealth of information into toxicants from plants and soils, environmental toxins, mycotoxins, marine and animal toxins, pesticide residues, food additives, and toxins that enter food during processing and storage, as well as digestion. The book also includes an extensive glossary.

Drawing from the author's more than 30 years of experience researching and teaching biochemistry and toxicology, Principles of Food Toxicology provides a complete look at the mechanisms and sources of toxicity found in our food sources.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Concerns of food safety have recently become the topic of much news coverage due to incidents of deadly tainted foods from China and the possibility of attacks on the food supply related to homeland security issues. Principles of Food Toxicology offers a comprehensive source of technical information about the circumstances surrounding and substances causing food poisoning. Pussa (Estonian Univ. of Life Sciences) introduces the science and history of toxicology and follows with an overview of the biology and biochemistry principles related to chemicals that pose hazards in foods. Detailed information about the route and fate of food toxins in humans leads to explanations regarding how the body responds to various toxins and how any subsequent body damage is measured. One chapter describes the measurement and assessment of food safety risks. The last section details the different ways that toxins can get into foods and the types of toxins associated with those sources. Pussa also addresses nontoxic substances such as food additives that may be toxic if eaten improperly. Includes ample chapter references and a glossary. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. B. R. Shmaefsky Lone Star College - Kingwood