Biotechnology has a long history of use in food production and processing. For ten thousand years fermentation, a form of biotechnology, has been used to produce wine, beer and bread. Selective breeding of animals such as horses and dogs has been going on for centuries. Selective breeding of essential foods such as rice, corn and wheat have created thousands of local varieties with improved yield compared to their wild ancestors. Wheat that is best for bread is different from wheat that is best for pasta. This was accomplished through conventional breeding over many years using traditional methods. However, such methods were often unpredictable and inefficient, resulting in undesirable traits passed along with desirable ones. Today, through newer biotechnology and genetic engineering, scientists use techniques such as recombinant DNA (r DNA). Scientists, by using r DNA, can move one gene, the inherited instruction for specific traits, from one organism to another and omit the undesirable traits. This enables food producers to obtain animal and crop improvements in a much more precise, controlled and predictable manner. The book presents a thorough and accessible account of modern food biotechnology and will make an ideal course book. It is useful not only to the undergraduate and postgraduate students but also to the researchers involved in the biological sciences, biotechnology, and food science and technology.
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