NANOTECHNOLOGY: Size DOES Matter

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The ability to design materials at the atomic or molecular level is likely to impact on the food industry through the development of coatings, barriers, release devices and novel packaging materials.

Nanotechnology also promises to provide a means of altering and manipulating food products to effectively and efficiently deliver nutrients, proteins and antioxidants to precisely target nutritional and health benefits to a specific site in the human body.

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"The future belongs to new products and new processes, with the goal of enhancing the performance of the product, prolonging the product shelf life and freshness, and improving the safety and quality of food." Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionise the food industry because it can be applied to develop nanoscale materials, controlled delivery systems, contaminant detection and to create nanodevices for molecular and cellular biology.

"Nanotechnology involves creating and manipulating organic and inorganic matter at the nanoscale. It promises to provide the means for designing nanomaterials; materials with tailor-made physical, chemical and biological properties controlled by defined molecular structures and dynamics. The present molecular biology techniques of genetic modification of crops are already forms of what has been termed nanotechnology. "

Nanotechnology has the ability to detect very small amounts of a chemical contaminant, virus or bacteria in food systems. Nanoparticles can be created to selectively attach themselves to any number of food pathogens. Using handheld sensors with infrared light or magnetic materials one could see the traces of harmful pathogens. Due to their small size, they are able to attach to harmful pathogens hiding in small crevices.

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Nanotechnology in food can be a great processor of "baked goods, refrigerated/frozen dough and batters, tortillas and flat breads, processed meats, acidified dried meat products, microwavable entrees, seasoning blends, confectionery, specialty products, chewing gum, dessert mixes, nutritional foods, products for well-being, health bars, dry beverage mixes and many others."

"Some companies are already aware of the impact of nanotechnology in the food industry. Research facilities are established, potential applications are under study, although only a handful of nano food products are now available in the market. Nevertheless, the tremendous potential will attract more and more competitors into this still untapped field."

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The encapsulation system benefits:

Ease of handling: used to transform volatile liquids into a powder.
Enhanced stability: used to isolate active ingredients that may interact with the other food ingredients. Provides long-term shelf life.
Protection against oxidation: The microspheres have very low surface oil (less than 0.5%)
Retention of volatile ingredients: The moisture-sensitive matrix provides excellent retention of highly volatile ingredients over an extended period of time to reduce the flavour loss during the product shelf life.
Taste masking: Unwanted taste can be masked by preventing interaction between the active molecule and the oral mucosal surface. The nanospheres are hydrophobic and can prevent bitter ingredients encapsulated within their structure from going into solution and interacting directly with taste receptors.
Moisture-triggered controlled release: As discussed above, the microspheres dissolve in the presence of water or saliva to release the active ingredients or flavours, thereby providing a high impact flavour “burst.”
pH-triggered controlled release: Ingredients can be encapsulated in the microspheres to enhance their stability during the product shelf life and to release them when needed or upon food consumption. For example, citral can be stabilised in a fruit juice at acidic pH and released in the mouth upon drinking. This pH triggered release was initially designed to deliver drugs to different regions of the gastrointestinal tract.
Heat-triggered release: The hydrophobic nanospheres are temperature sensitive and can be utilised to release active ingredients and flavours at a certain temperature, e.g., upon heating in an oven or microwave oven or the addition of hot water for hot drinks and soups.
Enhanced bioavailability and efficacy: As a result of their hydrophobic/lipophilic nature, the nanospheres can enhance the bioavailability of various active ingredients, such as vitamins, nutrients and other biologically active agents encapsulated within their structure.

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