新食品，主要是包装材料提供更好的表演。纳米技术甚至在食品行业中突破，引起人类健康和环境的担忧。
新应用程序仅关注材料。纳米技术使用涉及食品行业。然而，一些研究人员发现目前的立法不足，如果遇到持续开发和使用涉及纳米技术的新产品和过程，则更新其更新。
最新应用
纳米技术涉及纳米公制量表的物质的操纵（10-9米）。工程化的纳米材料（ENMS），其尺寸通常在1-100nm之间包含，提供称为“量子效应”的新颖性，其不存在于具有较大粒径的物质中。如今，即使在食品工业中，它们仍有很少的产品和应用程序，但它们的数量看起来很明显上升。纳米技术可以促进整个链条的创新解决方案的发展：它们可以增强生产过程;减少使用防腐剂;提高营养吸收性;控制质量，卫生，产品的可追溯性;并改善食物保存。关于质量控制的应用，例如诊断系统，不涉及安全问题，而纳米材料或纳米颗粒可以与食品直接接触的应用，则在其安全性上铸造怀疑。农业食品部门已经提供了几种纳米技术应用。 As for instance, the improvement of some food properties, as colour, taste and texture; higher absorption and bioavailability of nutrient sources and food supplements; development of new packaging materials with higher barrier or mechanical properties in order to extend the shelf-life of food products. Other applications concern the development of nanosensors for better monitoring packaged food during transport and storage. In agriculture, new nanosensors are being studied for pest detection, and herbicide nanocapsules for slow release and efficient dosage of water and fertilizer, as well as nanofilters for the treatment of water and soil. Food products containing nanoparticles used as ingredients or additives are already on the market; and food products containing nanostructures used as carriers of bioactive compounds or to improve the organoleptic properties of food. Forms of nanosilver are used for their antimicrobial properties in various applications such as kitchenware and tableware, last generation refrigerators. There is bread enriched with microencapsulated tuna oil, where the microencapsulation masks any fish odour and taste, while preserving its nutritional properties as for instance those derived from omega-3 fatty acids. And again: a nano-selenium enriched tea with antimicrobial properties; food products containing nano titanium dioxide acting as anti-caking ingredient, and so on. And there are nanoemulsions offering the same creaminess of standard food products but lower in calories; and zinc nanoparticles used as taste and palatability enhancers in food products.
基于纳米技术的材料的现在与未来
甚至食品包装行业也在纳米材料领域。聚合物工业也在研究纳米复合材料，因为它们允许使用传统的基体材料，即使使用很小的电荷，其性能也有显著改善；它们有助于提高机械性能和降低气体渗透性，同时提高耐溶剂性和热稳定性。此外，他们有助于减少包装材料，因为厚度可以减少由于改善机械性能。它们可以消除昂贵的二次加工，以提高阻隔效果或表面光洁度。粘土基纳米复合材料实际上降低了氧气和二氧化碳的渗透性，大大提高了许多食品的保质期。这项技术目前用于含有碳酸软饮料的塑料瓶。几项研究调查了开发仅在必要时释放抗菌剂的包装材料的可能性；其他的则包括含有氧化锌或氧化镁的包装材料，具有自清洁特性，或者用于加强包装的纳米材料。纳米颗粒的存在使包装在食品保存中发挥了动态作用，通过释放或吸收包装食品或食品周围环境中的物质。例如氧气或乙烯。包装中的氧气会引发或加速氧化反应，从而缩短保质期，而乙烯的形成则会加速新鲜农产品的成熟。在聚丙烯薄膜上加入二氧化钛纳米颗粒的涂层具有无限的微生物活性，可以吸收水果和蔬菜包装中的乙烯。在包装的聚合物基体中加入的几种纳米器件可以监测包装食品的状况或周围环境，还可以起到防止欺诈性模仿的作用。在2015年纳米纳米纳米纳米工艺中，纳米材料的可能应用介绍了纳米材料的食品包装。特别是，这些研究涉及具有氧气清除性质的包装材料;用于延长食品保质期的活性包装的聚合物纳米结构;包装材料包含纳米颗粒，允许储蓄相当大的材料;和等离子体沉积涂层小于100nm。事实上，大气压等离子体沉积是一种可持续的环保技术，开辟了多样化的食品批准的包装可能性;此外，它提供可印刷的防雾载体，其提供阻气，化学和微生物保护。等离子体处理有助于提高聚合物的表面能，提高其粘附性和可印刷性;最近对食品和包装材料展示了其胚胎抑制效果。其他开发将涉及整合镁 - 铝钴岩的塑料PLA矩阵材料;粒度测量的优化最大化无源屏障性能和清晰度; the study of processes for capturing or adjusting humidity conditions and the scouting of active oxygen scavenging formulations.
法规，环境和健康
旨在与食品接触的材料和物品受到欧盟委员会第10/2011号欧盟第10/2011号的监管，尤其是尤其要求直接纳入食品接触材料不得覆盖纳米颗粒形式存在的物质;此外，对于纳米复合材料，功能屏障概念不适用于。然而，该调节不禁止在与食品接触的聚合物中使用纳米填料。它指出，纳米粒子应在其在制造或接触食物的情况下授权作为新食品。他们的安全性是其他新型食品，应由EFSA，食品安全管理局进行评估。申请人还应证明已经实施了最新的测试方法，以检查他们要求授权的工程纳米材料的遵守情况。几个纳米填充物已经取得了认证，并包含在欧盟名单中。如在炭黑（FCM 411）的情况下，二氧化硅（FCM 504），氮化钛（FCM 807 - 仅在PET和高达20mg / kg）。其他纳米物质已被添加到阳性清单中（欧盟）第174/2015条。 It is the case of kaolin (FCM 410); size smaller than 100 nm and contents < 12% in EVOH, with functional barrier), and three different co-polymers: (butadiene, ethyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, styrene) copolymer crosslinked with divinylbenzene (FCM 859); (butadiene, ethyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, styrene) copolymer not cross-linked (FCM No 998); and (butadiene, ethyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, styrene) copolymer cross-linked with 1,3-butanediol dimethacrylate (FCM No 1043). The Authority has no safety concern in case those substances are used at a maximum combined weight percentage of 10 % w/w in non-plasticised polyvinyl chloride in contact with all food types at ambient temperature or below, including long-term storage, and when used individually or in combination as additives, and when the diameter of the particles is larger than 20 nm, and for at least 95 % by number the diameter is larger than 40 nm. There are still many concerns about the potential risk from nanoparticles for health and environment. If released into the air, they can be inhaled by humans or by the animals we eat. If they deposit to soil or water, they can be absorbed by fruit and vegetables, or enter the feed chain of marine animals, such as fish, for which they might be toxic. The level of biodegradability of nanoparticles is still unknown, just like the reaction of the human body to uncontrolled ingestion, since the behaviour of nanoparticles significantly differs from those of larger scale. Due to their small size, nanoparticles are particularly reactive from the chemical point of view; they can pass through cell membranes; they are not recognised by the human immune system; they can cross the blood-retinal and placental barriers. All these factors team with the difficulty of knowing the real behaviour of the investigated nanoparticle, and the complexity of the toxicological analysis. All this making it even more difficult to make a correct assessment of the risk, for which the application of the sole precautionary principle might be insufficient, if there are no secure indications on the properties and behaviours of nanomaterials and nanomaterial-based products. Although deficient in a number of crucial respects, there is a European legislation on nanotechnologies and nanomaterials used in the food industry, and it is in continuous evolution. This is not the case for other world economies, which have no specific regulations on nanomaterials used in food and in contact therewith. It is therefore extremely difficult to quantify the number of products already using these nanomaterials.
