More than a decade has passed since the publication of the second edition of Food Chemistry, so the appropriateness of an
updated version should be apparent. The purposes of the book remain unchanged: it is primarily a textbook for upper division
undergraduates and beginning graduate students who have sound backgrounds in organic chemistry and biochemistry, and is
secondarily a reference book. Information on food analysis is intentionally absent, except where its presence fits logically with
the topic under discussion. As a textbook for undergraduates, it is designed to serve as the basis of a two-semester course on
food chemistry with the assumption that the instructor will make selective reading assignments as deemed appropriate. Individual
chapters in the book should be useful as the basis of graduate-level courses on specialized topics in food chemistry.
The third edition differs in several important respects from the second. The chapters prepared by first-time contributors are
totally new. These cover such topics as proteins, dispersions, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, animal tissues, toxicants, and
pigments. Chapters by contributors to the second edition have been thoroughly revised. For example, in the chapter “Water and
Ice,” a major addition deals with molecular mobility and glass transition phenomena. The result is a book that is more than 60%
new, has greatly improved graphics, and is better focused on material that is unique to food chemistry.