Meat is both a major food in its own right and a staple ingredient in many food products. With its distinguished editors and an international team of contributors, Meat processing reviews research on what defines and determines meat quality, and how it can be maintained or improved during processing.
Part one considers the various aspects of meat quality. There are chapters on what determines the quality of raw meat, changing views of the nutritional quality of meat and the factors determining such quality attributes as colour and flavour. Part two discusses how these aspects of quality are measured, beginning with the identification of appropriate quality indicators. It also includes chapters on both sensory analysis and instrumental methods including on-line monitoring and microbiological analysis. Part three reviews the range of processing techniques that have been deployed at various stages in the supply chain. Chapters include the use of modelling techniques to improve quality and productivity in beef cattle production, new decontamination techniques after slaughter, automation of carcass processing, high pressure processing of meat, developments in modified atmosphere packaging and chilling and freezing. There are also chapters on particular products such as restructured meat and fermented meat products.
With its detailed and comprehensive coverage of what defines and determines meat quality, Meat processing is a standard reference for all those involved in the meat industry and meat research.
Reviews research on what defines and determines meat quality, and how it can be measured, maintained and improved during processingExamines the range of processing techniques that have been deployed at various stages in the supply chainComprehensively outlines the new decontamination techniques after slaughter and automation of carcass processing

Essential reading for every American who must navigate the US health care system.
Why was the Obama health plan so controversial and difficult to understand? In this readable, entertaining, and substantive book, Stuart Altman--internationally recognized expert in health policy and adviser to five US presidents--and fellow health care specialist David Shactman explain not only the Obama health plan but also many of the intriguing stories in the hundred-year saga leading up to the landmark 2010 legislation. Blending political intrigue, policy substance, and good old-fashioned storytelling, this is the first book to place the Obama health plan within a historical perspective.
The authors describe the sometimes haphazard, piece-by-piece construction of the nation's health care system, from the early efforts of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman to the later additions of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. In each case, they examine the factors that led to success or failure, often by illuminating little-known political maneuvers that brought about immense shifts in policy or thwarted herculean efforts at reform.
The authors look at key moments in health care history: the Hill-Burton Act in 1946, in which one determined poverty lawyer secured the rights of the uninsured poor to get hospital care; the "three-layer cake" strategy of powerful House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Wilbur Mills to enact Medicare and Medicaid under Lyndon Johnson in 1965; the odd story of how Medicare catastrophic insurance was passed by Ronald Reagan in 1988 and then repealed because of public anger in 1989; and the fact that the largest and most expensive expansion of Medicare was enacted by George W. Bush in 2003.
President Barack Obama is the protagonist in the climactic chapter, learning from the successes and failures chronicled throughout the narrative. The authors relate how, in the midst of a worldwide financial meltdown, Obama overcame seemingly impossible obstacles to accomplish what other presidents had tried and failed to achieve for nearly one hundred years.

Today Vietnam is one of America’s strongest international partners, with a thriving economy and a population that welcomes American visitors. How that relationship was formed is a twenty-year story of daring diplomacy and a careful thawing of tensions between the two countries after a lengthy war that cost nearly 60,000 American and more than two million Vietnamese lives.   Ted Osius, former ambassador during the Obama administration, offers a vivid account, starting in the 1990s, of the various forms of diplomacy that made this reconciliation possible. He considers the leaders who put aside past traumas to work on creating a brighter future, including senators John McCain and John Kerry, two Vietnam veterans and ideological opponents who set aside their differences for a greater cause, and Pete Peterson—the former POW who became the first U.S. ambassador to a new Vietnam. Osius also draws upon his own experiences working first-hand with various Vietnamese leaders and traveling the country on bicycle to spotlight the ordinary Vietnamese people who have helped bring about their nation’s extraordinary renaissance.    With a foreword by former Secretary of State John Kerry, Nothing Is Impossible tells an inspiring story of how international diplomacy can create a better world.

This is the comprehensive account of the long and difficult road traveled to end the fifty-year armed conflict with the FARC, the oldest guerrilla army in the world; a long war that left more than eight million victims. The obstacles to peace were both large and dangerous. All previous attempts to negotiate with the FARC had failed, creating an environment where differences were irreconcilable and political will was scarce. The Battle for Peace is the story not only of the six years of negotiation and the peace process that transformed a country, its secret contacts, its international implications, and difficulties and achievements but also of the two previous decades in which Colombia oscillated between warlike confrontation and negotiated solution. In The Battle for Peace Juan Manuel Santos shares the lessons he learned about war and peace and how to build a successful negotiation process in the context of a nation which had all but resigned itself to war and the complexities of twenty-first-century international law and diplomacy. While Santos is clear that there is no handbook for making peace, he offers conflict-tested guidance on the critical parameters, conditions, and principles as well as rich detail on the innovations that made it possible for his nation to find common ground and a just solution.

The Observer Book of the Year 'The war hero, senator, secretary of state and presidential candidate has plenty to write about - and to be right about' The Guardian 'Frank, thoughtful and clearly written ... What lingers are not the parts but the whole; not the life, but the man' New York Times 'Draws back the curtain on a life you thought you knew, but turns out to be a bit different ... surprisingly personal' Washington Post Every Day Is Extra is John Kerry's personal story. The title comes from a saying he and his buddies had in Vietnam. A child of privilege, Kerry went to private schools and Yale, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He commanded river patrols - swift boats - and was highly decorated, but he discovered that the truth about what was happening in Vietnam was different from what the government was reporting. He returned home disillusioned, became active against the war, and testified in Congress as a 27-year-old veteran who opposed the war. Kerry served as a prosecutor in Massachusetts, then as Massachusetts lieutenant governor, and was elected to the Senate in 1984. His friendship with the Kennedy family gave him valuable contacts, but he earned his victory by campaigning hard. He would be re-elected four times. Kerry's service in the Senate was distinguished. Unlike most senators, who travel on foreign junkets for "fact-finding missions," Kerry travelled to the Philippines and based on what he learned, helped to orchestrate the peaceful transition from Ferdinand Marcos to the duly elected Corazon Aquino government. He played an active role in the BCCI and Iran-Contra matters. In 2004 he ran for president against the incumbent, George W. Bush and came within one state - Ohio - of winning. In Every Day Is Extra he explains why he chose not to contest widespread voting irregularities in Ohio, fearing that after the 2000 election went to the U.S. Supreme Court, another challenge would undermine confidence in the voting system. Kerry returned to the Senate, endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in 2008, and when Clinton resigned in 2012 to run for the presidency, Kerry was confirmed as Secretary of State. In that position he tried - and like all his predecessors, failed - to find peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (he is critical of both sides but especially Prime Minister Netanyahu); dealt with the Syrian civil war and the rise of ISIS; negotiated the Iran nuclear deal; and signed the Paris climate accord. This is a personal book, sometimes angry, sometimes funny, always moving. Secretary Kerry describes some of the remarkable events of his life, such as discovering that his paternal grandfather committed suicide - something his father never told him - and that this grandfather was Jewish, not Irish (he changed his name to Kerry from Kohn, and also converted to Catholicism). His account of his experiences in Vietnam is riveting. His failed first marriage left a wound that never completely healed, but his second marriage, to Teresa Heinz, widow of a Senate colleague, has been an anchor in his life. He tells wonderful stories about the Kennedys and especially about Senate colleagues Ted Kennedy and John McCain. His story of his first real meeting with John McCain, another Vietnam veteran, is one of the most moving stories in the book; his respect for McCain is genuine and inspiring. Every Day Is Extra shows readers how arduous it is to run for president and how demanding the role of secretary of state is. Readers of this book, whatever their political persuasion, will come away grateful that we have public servants who are prepared to spend their lives in service to their country. They will also come away with a new appreciation of John Kerry, a man often portrayed as aloof and stiff, but as this book reveals, funny, warm, and dedicated.

The environment, and the movement that grew up to protect it, is under attack -- concerted and purposeful. Yet the need for solutions to pressing environmental problems grows more urgent each day. Teresa Heinz Kerry and Senator John Kerry describe how these issues unite people across party and ideological lines. From the San Juan Basin to the Gulf of Mexico to the South Bronx, from mothers on Cape Cod to Colorado ranchers, they found a vibrant coalition of people and communities deploying ingenuity, technology, and sheer will power to save the world they know and love. Now, in this passionate and personal book, Senator John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry shine the spotlight on an inspiring cross-section of these new environmental pioneers. The book combines intensive research with keenly observed personal experiences to present a portrait of Americans devoted to the natural diversity and spectacular uniqueness of our country. It also includes an extensive guide on where and how readers can get involved.

The Bank of Credit and Commerce International remains today, 30 years after its founding, a byword for corruption, influence peddling, bribery, crony capitalism, phony audits, and money laundering. Here, in the full documentary splendor of the Congressional report of 1992, we see the "bankster" ethos at work and the total failure of the same roster of government agencies caught napping in the panic of 2008. This is the final draft of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee report. Co-author Sen. Hank Brown, reportedly acting at the behest of Henry Kissinger, pressed for the deletion of a few passages. As a result, the report as released originally by the Government Printing Office is less complete than the version you now hold in your hands. Long out of print and available only electronically, this document is here presented in a new edition designed for readability and easy reference. In a world of never-ending banking scandals, this remains a layman's guide to how the "banksters" do what they do.

Technical and economic considerations no longer prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons by nations that do not have them. The technology is now widely known and generally accessible, and the cost is not prohibitive. For an increasing number of nations a decision to develop nuclear weapons rests on political and strategic factors. This book contains essays from a 1978 colloquium, jointly sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense, that brought together 50 people from the academic, research organization, intelligence, and national security policymaking communities to discuss the essays and the questions generated by them.