The review from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) looks at the implications for food safety of the application of nanotechnology in food production and processing as they relate to Ireland.
The agency said that there is a need to guarantee that the legislative controls are adequate to safeguard human health and it argues that labelling of all food products and food packaging that employ the technology should be mandatory.
The FSAI said it would like to see standardised risk assessments put in place whereby food companies using nanotechnology are obliged to conduct monitoring processes and would be held legally accountable on all stages of production.
According to the FSAI, there is currently no known use of nanoparticles in food on the Irish market.
Growth forecast
Nanotechnology is the ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture materials at usually between 1 and 100 nanometres. A nanometre is one billionth of a meter. A human hair is roughly 100,000 nanometers wide.
According to a study by consultant Helmut Kaiser, global sales of nanotechnology products to the food and beverage packaging sector jumped to US$860m (€687.5m) in 2004 from US$150m (€120m) in 2002.
The German firm predicts that nanotechnology will change 25 per cent of the food packaging business in the next decade leading to a yearly market of about $30bn (€24bn).
Intelligent packaging
Dr Alan Reilly, FSAI deputy chief executive, said that nanotechnology has a role in the development of ‘intelligent’ food packaging that will provide a greater degree of traceability of products:
“For example, nano-structured metal films and coatings can strengthen bottles and other plastic wrapping material, and incorporation of nano-sensors into food packaging material will allow for the detection of contaminants such as harmful bacteria in foods and their surrounding environment.”
Regulation
According to the FSAI, it and other food safety bodies in Europe do not have full enforcement powers in relation to the use of nanotechnology as of yet.
The existing EU legislative food safety framework does not contain specific provisions on nanomaterials.
But uses of nanotechnology in food are considered to fall within the scope of general food law, in that the food sector is obliged to only place safe food on the market, and is subject to approval processes such as those for food additives, food contact materials, novel foods, and pesticide and biocide approval systems.
Reilly claims that the role of the agency would be to assess each application of nanotechnology within food and food packaging on a case by case basis, until a harmonised approach is developed within the EU for the evaluation of the possible risks of nanoparticles.