IMAGINE a new kind of food, dramatically lowered in fat, salt and sugar but tasting just as good as the real thing 鈥� in fact, it is the real thing. Thanks to nanotechnology, such foods could soon become reality. Yet their promising future is already in jeopardy.
Because the food industry fears that consumers will react to nanofoods with about as much warmth as they did to genetically modified foods, we have been told little about them. That鈥檚 too bad. These foods could be a powerful weapon in the battle against obesity, along with other major health problems (see 鈥淭he nanofood revolution鈥�).
But instead of engaging with the public to communicate the potential risks and benefits of such foods, companies have been reluctant to release any details. If they continue to act so secretively, denying that there鈥檚 any research going on, then a suspicious reaction to nanofoods is exactly what the industry will get 鈥� along with opposition, even panic.
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鈥淚nstead of engaging with the public on the potential of nanofoods, the industry has gone silent鈥�
The reality is that, to our digestive systems, nano is nothing new. From the day we are born we consume nanoparticles: the proteins in milk naturally form nanoclusters, for example. Manipulating the nanostructure of food is also a well-established science. Much classic colloid chemistry involves changing food at the nanoscale. Applying the tools of the nanotech trade simply means being able to do so with rather more sophistication.
Nanofoods are a diverse group, with an array of potential risks. Eating nano-sized protein clusters, which break down in the digestive system, is not the same as ingesting 鈥減ersistent鈥� inorganic nanoparticles that can penetrate the gut and travel elsewhere in the body. Describing all such foods as nanofoods might help to spice up research grant proposals, but it presents consumers with a confusing picture.
Collectively naming a range of products and technologies based on size alone is also far too crude. Would it help to use the term 鈥渃entitechnology鈥� to lump together bullets, bolts, batteries and every other object that measures in the order of centimetres? Clearly not, and for nanotechnology the same applies.
Nevertheless, nanoparticles can behave differently from bigger ones. This is often where their advantages lie but also where the potential risks need to be properly assessed. As highlighted by a recent UK House of Lords report, entitled , there is a need to make up 鈥渟evere shortfalls in research required for risk assessment of nanomaterials鈥�.
Without such information, the public will find the idea of nanofoods about as appetising as grey goo. There will always be some detractors, but if nanofood is to realise its potential, industry must meet their concerns head on, with openness and honesty.