It is a pleasure to be involved in yet another edition the enforcement system and its officers, and the of the Food Industries Manual, and to know that the appearance of many more consultants, advisors and training specialists all claiming to assist manu­ book remains in sufficiently high demand for a new edition to be necessary. The work of revision and facturers in the discharge of what are described as updating has been rewarding to us and we hope that new and onerous duties. In reaction to all this, food the result will be found at least equally helpful to manufacturers are learning so to order their opera­ those who use it. tions that their reliability and their commitment to In the five years since the last edition the growth quality and good workmanship can be routinely of the chilled foods sector, in both quantity and demonstrated. The touchstone of this has become quality-with much more refrigeration available accreditation of the manufacturer's systems by an and in use, with close control of refrigeration tem­ independent authority, for instance that they peratures, storage times, storage temperatures, conform with the International Standard for tra?Sport conditions and display conditions, and Quality Systems, ISO 9000, or its British Standard with better information on labels and elsewhere equivalent, BS 5750. These and related matters are about shelf life and the handling of products-has dealt with in another new Chapter, on Food Issues.