It sounds like there are real brownies. A high-tech version of them, incredibly small and highly specialized, which can do amazing things in the kitchen: change the color and taste of food, enrich it withTolfioow substances, improve consistency and guarantee lasting freshness when stored. However, while the elves in the fairy tale only do good, this is not so certain with the modern dwarfs.
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www.bund.net In order to create more transparency, the BUND (Bund für Umwelt- und Naturschutz) has created its own nano product database with various categories and useful information.
www.bmbf.de On the homepage of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research you will find comprehensive general information on the nano commitment of the federal government, including possible applications and safety research.
We are talking about nanoparticles (Greek nano = “dwarf”), synthetically manufactured particles that mostly consist of carbon and metal atoms and, thanks to their revolutionary capabilities, are no longer just used to optimize medical devices, car tires or plastics. They are finding their way into our food more and more often, are found in salt and spices as anti-caking agents, stabilize the color and improve the flowability of ketchup, salad dressings and yoghurt and are active as germicidal hygiene guards in refrigerator coatings and cling film. We also come into contact with them through nano-enriched fertilizers used in the conventional agricultural industry.
Innovative and useful
Nanoparticles are a billionth of a meter small – a tiny dimension that makes even bacteria seem gigantic. Their micro dimensions allow them their special talents, because they react chemically and physically completely differently than larger structures of the same material. What was previously hard can now be elastic as a nano. Molecules that didn’t match connect to each other. “Nanoparticles turn conventional physics upside down and may have a completely new bioactivity,” says Prof. Thomas Vilgis from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. This opens up huge potential for the development of innovative products. Coatings with a beading effect and antibacterial functional clothing are already known. But for some sensitive industries, questions arise which cannot currently be answered. “You have to be very critical of the use of nanomaterials in food,” says Prof. Vilgis, who heads a working group on physical aspects of food. “You just don’t know enough about what happens to the particles in the body.”
The current study situation gives reason to fear that they are more likely to damage health. That is why the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) warns of nanoproducts until the possible dangers have been better researched. For good reason: “In experiments with cell cultures, nano-sized titanium dioxide, for example, caused genetic material and cell damage,” explains nano expert Sarah Hauser from the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND). In addition, the particles can penetrate the body’s natural protective barriers such as the blood-brain barrier or the placenta and enter the blood. What happens then, nobody knows.
Beautiful new world? Chocolate no longer melts, sour milk turns red
Nevertheless, nano research is ongoing in the field of nutritionat full speed – because it promises gigantic profits for the future. Experts from the Dutch University of Wageningen estimate that in the next decade around 20 billion dollars in annual sales can be achieved with nano-based food. The international corporations are hoping for savings in food production, but also for competitive advantages, because nanofood can do more: they are still only drafts from the food designers, but soon, with the help of the supermolecules, the milk could turn red as soon as it is sour. Ready-made pizza could change its flavor from ham to spinach depending on the oven heat. Industry giants such as Unilever and Kraft Foods work in their own laboratories, and a patent has already been applied for a coating made of nano-titanium dioxide: In future it should prevent chocolate from
A large market is also “Functional Food”. Such foods are upgraded with health-promising substances. Nanocapsules act as containers, filled with aromas,Tolfioow substances, colors or flavorings. They could be adjusted so that they are only released during preparation or in a targeted manner in the body. In Australia, bread enriched with cholesterol-lowering fish oil is already on the market, the active ingredient of which only dissolves in the stomach.
No legal rules
According to research by BUND, around 100 foods or packaging containing nanoparticles are already being sold in Germany. “This is certainly just the tip of the iceberg, because there is no labeling or reporting obligation either nationally or at EU level,” says Sarah Häuser. In March, after three years of marathon negotiations, the attempt to regulate the use of nanomaterials in food failed before the EU Parliament. Consumer protection is now in the stars in this regard. “And the manufacturers keep a low profile with information. They are afraid of a rejection similar to that of genetic food,” says Häuser. The only protection for consumers is to avoid highly processed products and to use fresh, organic food whenever possible.
Do we even need nano in food? “So far, this hasn’t had any unbeatable advantages for consumers,” says food physicist Vilgis. Salt also becomes free-flowing with calcium carbonate, and guar gum is a good binding agent for ketchup. So more hype than benefit? “At the moment, yes. Or, to paraphrase Andy Warhol, ‘Progress is very important and exciting, except when it comes to food.’”
Tiny, but a wide field
Size: Particle sizes in the nanometer range (nm), between 0.1 and 100 nm, are used in all branches of research. A nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter. To put it in popular terms: the size of a hazelnut to the diameter of the earth corresponds roughly to the ratio of one nanometer to one meter.
Areas of application: The term nanotechnology brings together different processes and methods that are used in physics, chemistry and biotechnology and affect almost all areas of the economy. In Germany alone, around 800 companies work with nanotechnology.
Future: There is a lot of potential in the fields of solar and electrical engineering as well as medicine. However, experts criticize that risk research is lagging behind product development.
