Internet Guide to Food Safety and Security

Citation

Cronau, D.A. (2006), "Internet Guide to Food Safety and Security", Online Information Review, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 317-318. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520610675889

This is a quite extensive, annotated directory or guide to internet sources related to food, nutrition, associated health issues and even agriculture. It contains descriptions and evaluations of over 400 web sites specifically related to the broad topic of food. The book commences with a general introduction (Chapter 1) to internet matters, including web site addresses, content evaluation, search engines/directories, and how to stay “healthy and well‐informed”. For those new to the internet this is a great first chapter to enable the book to be used as an educational tool to develop internet skills via a specific project topic or research project.

Sections listing sites on interactive food safety tools, organizations, full‐text publications, and other sources add value to this book as a self‐education, interesting and informative gift, public/school/university library resource, or a great general read. Additionally, it has been professionally recommended during pre‐publication reviews for health care advisors, hospital and community libraries for its value in advising clients on how to stay healthy.

The extensive nature of this title is best reflected in a partial listing from the contents pages:

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  general food, health, and agriculture sites;

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  major safety and security sites;

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  food safety and security sites;

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  diseases and conditions;

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  specific issues, concerns, and controversies (from additives to terrorism to water quality);

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  audiovisual and multimedia materials;

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  education and conferences;

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  interactive tools;

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  organizations and societies;

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  legislation, standards, and regulations;

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  publications;

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  glossary;

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  bibliography; and

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  index.

The extremely broad coverage of this book, as can be seen from the list above, really makes it a superb ready‐reference tool for nearly every collection. As happens with most books written and published in the USA, the majority of examples deal only with US content. This may prove a disadvantage for some libraries due to the large number of US government sites referred to, specifically when issues such as regulations and legislation are considered.

The four‐page, double‐column index is extremely useful. It includes indications if the topic containing figures or tables in the book as well, a very useful feature. The short list of annotated bibliographic sites is not international in focus but does include a mixture of university and government sites, and the extensive glossary is excellent with good use of bold key words.

In terms of presentation, this book is easy to negotiate. Web site titles and their addresses are in bold print, with paragraph spacings between annotations. A box with a tick is used to denote major resources with authoritative and original content.

This is an interesting and informative book, not only of value to libraries, but also for anyone interested in or concerned with health, diet and nutrition information available on the web.