The study of sweetness and sweeteners has recently been an area well served by books at all levels, but this volume was planned to fill what we perceived as a gap in the coverage. There appeared to be no book which attempted to combine a study of sweetness with a thorough but concise coverage of all aspects of sweeteners. We set out to include all the important classes of sweeteners, including materials which do not yet have regulatory approval, so that clear comparisons could be made between them and their technological advantages and disadvantages. To achieve our first aim, of sufficient depth of coverage, the accounts within this volume are comprehensive enough to satisfy the requirements of a demanding readership, but cannot be exhaustive in a single volume of moderate proportions. The second aim, of breadth and conciseness, is satisfied by careful selection of the most pertinent material. For the purposes of this book, a sweetener is assumed to be any substance whose primary effect is to sweeten a food or beverage to be consumed, thus including both the nutritive and non-nutritive varieties, from the ubiquitous sucrose to the lesser known, newer developments in alternative sweeteners. The volume has its contents structured in a logical manner to enable it to be used in an ordered study of the complete subject area or as a convenient reference source.

There has been increasing interest in recent years in the concept and production of natural foods. Advertising claims that food is natural, without additives or artificial ingredients, have taken on great importance in marketing. Consumption of food that can be considered natural is currently central to the sophisticated lifestyle. However, there is only a limited published literature on what constitutes natural food flavours. Much of the flavour and fragrance industry has worked on development of synthetic or 'nature-identical' flavours which represent a chemist's simu lation of the natural character. As marketing claims become more strident it is necessary to gain a better understanding of natural food flavours in order to safeguard food quality and for prevention of fraud. There have been great advances recently in analytical chemistry, and partly as a result of this progress there seems to be a never-ending increase in the number of volatile compounds identified in foods. Unfortunately, this has not always been matched by an equal increase in the understanding of how these volatile compounds arise, or how they contribute to the sensation which we call flavour. Throughout the development of Western society, quality of food, particularly flavour, has been highly regarded. The amateur or professional cook with the skills to optimize and maintain standards in flavour has been held in the highest respect."