Nutritional Evaluation of Food Processing

The ninth edition of the AOAC OFFICIAL ~-ETHODS OF AXALYSIS includes all changes adopted up to and including the annual meeting in October, 1959.The organization and presentation of tests are similar to earlier editions.Maximum use has been made of abbreviations, omitted prepositions, and cross references consistent with clarity.Even so, it has been necessary to increase the size of page and arrange the material in two columns per page in order to include the new material in a single volume.The Editorial Board and others who have contributed deserve much more credit than can be given in a review, for the monumental task they have completed.Many new tests and changes in approved methods have been made necessary by the Pesticide Amendment of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.The rapid increase in new tests is shown by the great number of First Action tests which have been included.Approximately a fifth of the references cited in the 35-page chapter on Pesticides, and a fourth of the references on the 51-page chapter on Residues in Foods, were published after the eighth edition of Official Methods was published.Not only have new tests been developed and approved to answer new needs, but many modifications of older tests have been possible because of new laboratory equipment and techniques.Outstanding in the use of new techniques has been the adoption of chromatographic methods for a wide variety of tests.Every laboratory should have a copy of the Ninth Edition.