Principles of Food Toxicology

Following in the tradition of popular previous editions, this book integrates the general principles of toxicology with a systematic characterization of the most important food toxicants. This new edition employs moderately rigorous chemistry and biochemistry in covering a range of current issues, including the link between growing environmental pollution and food safety, as well as the potential dangers of plant-based meat alternatives/substitutes. It also highlights oxidative stress and free radicals as important factors in various toxic responses. Ideal for students and teachers, as well as a reliable resource for toxicologists, this book provides the tools to adeptly deal with a range of food and animal toxicants and ensure food safety.

Tõnu Püssa is a professor of toxicology at the Department of Veterinary Biomedicine and Food Hygiene on the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences of the Estonian University of Life Sciences in Tartu, Estonia. After graduating from Tartu University as organic chemist in 1969, he defended his PhD in chemistry at the same university in 1973. While working as a researcher and associate professor at the Department of Organic Chemistry and the Laboratory of Chemical Kinetics and Catalysis of the same university, his research interests were related to chemical and enzymatic catalysis, algal polysaccharides, and proteins of extracellular matrix. From 1996 to 2001, Tõnu Püssa worked as the head of the Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry at the Estonian University of Life Sciences (formerly the Agricultural University). He has taught courses in organic chemistry, analytical biochemistry, hydrochemistry, food toxicology, environmental and food toxicology and food safety (chemical hazards). His current research interests are related to the study of the mechanisms of (per)oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids and the interaction of oxidation products with growth and activity of microbes found in meats, as well as the inhibition of both harmful processes by edible plant constituents. He is married and has two daughters and three grandsons.