Nanotechnology and food safety: potential benefits, possible risks?

Abstract

Abstract Nanotechnology is the new frontier in food science. A purported 150-500 nano-based food and food-related products are already on the market worldwide, and the nanotechnology food industry is expected to grow to over $20 billion by 2010-2015. Food safety applications are expected to be a key focus of food nanotechnology research, development and commercialization in the near future. Recent Escherichia coli , Salmonella and other food-borne pathogen scares have made preventing and tracking of pathogens in food products and agricultural and industrial food systems a top priority. Nanotechnology-based applications could prevent food-borne pathogens from causing public illness and disease via improved packaging, sensing, tracking and more effective antibiotics, and many nanotechnology applications intended to make food safer are already on the market. At the same time, some scientists, regulators and non-governmental organizations are raising concerns about potential risks related to the increasing use of nanomaterials and nanotechnologies in foods and other products. In this review, we broadly review what nanotechnology is and provide a brief overview of some of the food-related applications on the market and in development. In the bulk of the review, we describe applications of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials for food safety in particular. In conclusion, we discuss some of the potential health risks and unknowns related to the use of nanomaterials in foods and food packaging.