Introduction

Abstract

Many of the methods in use today for the analysis of foods are procedures based on a system introduced initially about 100 years ago by two German scientists, Henneberg and Stahmann, for the analysis of animal feedstuffs and described as the Proximate Analysis of Foods. This scheme of analysis involves the estimation of the main components of a food using procedures that allow a reasonably rapid and acceptable measurement of various food fractions without the need for sophisticated equipment or chemicals. The description of these food fractions, as shown in Table 1.1, remains basically the same today as in the original scheme, but various alternative terminologies have been introduced which, along with modifications to the analytical methods used, more accurately represent the food fractions being investigated.