'Analysis of Food Contaminants' was published in 1984 by Elsevier
Applied Science Publishers and 10 years later I was asked to consider
producing an updated second edition. Surprisingly little has really
changed in a decade in terms of the public interest in food safety and
the continued vigilance of Government in monitoring the food supply for
contaminants. This means that food contamination in itself is still a
very relevant topic. However, much has changed in terms of the
techniques now employed in trace analysis. The 1984 book used a
combination of an analytical technique and a specific food contaminant
problem area per chapter (each written by a specialist) which resulted
in a multi-authored text which was mostly application based but provided
a good introduction to the 'how' in terms of applying techniques to real
problems. Rather than producing a second edition of this text, it seemed
on reflection more sensible to produce a new and complementary book,
using the same formula as before of application plus technique, but to
concentrate on contaminant areas of current interest and to highlight
recent advances in techniques. Thus, the present book 'Progress in Food
Contaminant Analysis' has originated as a follow-up to 'Analysis of Food
Contaminants'.