Editorial - Diversity and conformity

Abstract

As we publish this first issue of the Quality Assurance and Safety of Crops & Foods in 2014 we are once again reminded of the diversity of our chosen field of scientific study. This issue highlights both the diversity of crops and raw materials that humankind has available for food, and the diversity of products that we make from those raw materials. The range of raw materials discussed in this issue also illustrates the ingenuity of humankind in developing new food products using not only the so-called ‘staple’ raw materials, but also in showing the potential for less well-known materials. Increasingly the world of food production is looking to ‘add value’ to the products reaching consumers. That added value may be to deliver very specific nutritionally related benefits which may be lacking from some diets, or it may be to deliver very specific health-related benefits which are associated with the special characteristics of some less well-known raw materials.