For graduates working in Nevada's large food service industry, Susan Meacham, former chair of the UNLV department of nutrition sciences, serves up this practical reference book on food and water safety. It's intended for food managers, trainers/educators, food handlers, and consumers worldwide.

Co-author Virginia Claudio, who had extensive academic and professional experience elsewhere before she retired to Las Vegas, invited Meacham to address the issue of international food safety. The resulting volume instructs readers on how to avoid biological, chemical, and physical hazards in foods.

The book's subject is particularly relevant "as we tighten our procedures for anti-terrorism, improve biomonitoring, and generally improve food safety at home and abroad," Meacham says.

Meachem's contribution examines how food additives — such as preservatives, pesticides, growth hormones, and radon gas — affect quality and nutrition. She also addresses the impact of naturally occurring chemical hazards in food and water, such as caffeine and enzymes.

In her research travels, Meacham says she has been struck by the dramatic dichotomies such as "the cornucopia of food in our Las Vegas stores and buffets in a desert region that cannot grow grass to walk on versus Brazil and China where very nutrient-rich native fruits and vegetables could be but are not produced and distributed in quantities needed to prevent disease and support growth for local citizens."