State of the art on the initiatives and activities relevant to risk assessment and risk management of nanotechnologies in the food and agriculture sectors

Abstract

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) conducted an international expert meeting on the potential food safety implications of the application of nanotechnologies in the food and agriculture sectors in June 2009.The present report reviews national, regional and international activities on the risk assessment and risk management of nanomaterials in the food and agriculture sectors that have been carried out between 2009 and 2012. The full report of the work is presented in a FAO/WHO paper available at http://www.fao.org/food/food-safety-quality/a-z-index/nano. Information and data have been collected on national and international approaches that identify and implement strategies to address potential hazards associated with the use of nanotechnology-related products or techniques. Selected activities by international governmental and nongovernmental organizations were reviewed and the significant achievements are noted. Meta-analysis of scientific reviews addressing risk assessment of nanotechnologies in the food and agriculture sectors was conducted and key principles for the safety assessment of nanomaterials were identified.It was concluded that although the concepts of potential use of nanomaterials in food and the implied benefits for stakeholders including consumers have not changed significantly since 2009, there are new products being developed and claimed to enter the market and national and international interests in considering the needs for applying regulations on engineered nanomaterials are increasing. The number of published risk assessment of products used in foods that are nanomaterials or contain particles that fall within applicable definitions is growing slowly.Several data gaps with respect to interaction between nanomaterials and food matrices, behaviours of nanomaterials in the human body, methods to determine such interactions and behaviours, and the relevance of such data for risk assessment continue to exist. The international collaboration in the area of nanomaterials and nanotechnology in food and agriculture must be strengthened. International efforts on risk assessment and risk communication may benefit from the experience gained at the national and regional levels. Should a sufficient number of case studies of risk assessment of commercial products become available with time, a review of approaches applied and results obtained could support the development of risk assessment procedures acceptable at the international level.