Nanoparticles in Food

Abstract

The advent of nanotechnology in the twentieth century and its application in various aspects of food production, processing, and packaging offers a lot of benefits to the increasing world population facing food shortages, malnutrition, hunger, and foodborne illnesses, especially in developing countries. However, public health concerns, ethical considerations, and arguments over labeling of food products containing nanoparticles could influence the level of acceptability of the product by consumers. There are many commercial nanofoods of high quality manufactured by leading food companies in the world. The various types of nanomaterials used in the food industry, research findings from recent studies on nanomodified foods, and public health risk associated with ingestion of nanoparticles in foods are discussed. In addition, the permissible limit of some nanoparticles in food, existing laws and regulations on nanofoods, and the challenges limiting wide availability of nanofoods in developing countries are looked into in detail.