The evolving landscape of analytical instrumentation has produced a plethora of extremely sensitive and selective methods for the analysis of trace components. Typically, the key character donating components of a food flavor are present in only trace levels. As instruments become more sensitive, detection limits are driven down, permitting the identification of new important flavor compounds. Armed with these new instruments, scientists seek to understand the links
between what we eat and our health, and new demands are made for compliance with legal and labeling requirements.

This book is based on presentations made in the symposium "Recent Advances in the Analysis of Foods and Flavors" held at the Denver ACS meeting in August 2011. The symposium was sponsored by the Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division. The 14 chapters in this book cover a variety of currently relevant topics, which include metabolomics, trace level aroma active compound identification, and the analysis of furocoumarins. The main objective of this book is to illustrate how new, highly
sophisticated instrumentation can be used to address the issues of most interest to today's food and flavor chemists.