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PrefaceThe quantity and composition of aroma and flavour compounds in foods and food products exert a marked influence on the consumer acceptance and, consequently, on the commercial value of the products. It has been established many times that one of the main properties employed for the evaluation of the product quality is the flavour, that is, an adequate flavour composition considerably enhances the marketability. Traditional analytical methods are generally unsuitable for the accurate determination of the quantity of this class of compounds. Moreover, they do not contain any useful information on the concentration of the individual substances and they are not suitable for their identification. As the stability of the aroma compounds and fragrances against hydrolysis, oxidation and other environmental and technological conditions shows marked differences, the exact determination of the flavour composition of a food or food product may help for the prediction of the shelflife of products and the assessment of the influence of technological steps on the aroma compounds resulting in more consumer-friendly processing methods. Furthermore, the qualitative determination and identification of these substances may contribute to the establishment of the provenance of the product facilitating the authenticity test. Because of the considerable commercial importance of flavour composition, much effort has been devoted to the development of methods suitable for the separation and quantitative determination of flavour compounds and fragrances in foods and in other industrial products. The high separation capacity of gas chromatography (GC) technologies and the volatility of the majority of aroma compounds make it a method of preference for the analysis of flavour and aroma compounds and fragrances. Other separation technologies such as thinlayer chromatography (TLC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electrically drived techniques have also found application in the separation and quantitative determination of aroma compounds. As the development of chromatographic separation techniques is very rapid, the number of new chromatographic methods employed for the analysis of flavour compounds is also rapidly increasing. The objectives of the book are the compilation of the newest results in this field of research, the critical evaluation of the results and the prediction of the future trends in the study of these compound classes. The book aims to be self-sufficient in terms of the need of the professional intending to work in this interesting field.