If recent arguments genetically modified foods are considered, you can imagine the ideas about nanotechnology applications in food industry. In addition to this reality, companies don’t prone to apply nanotechnology in new product studies.
After all, nanotechnology supply benefits in food safety, storage, packing and nourishment.
You will find 10 important reasons to apply nanotechnology to food products. Each has been explained by specialist with at least one instance.
- Contamination Receiver
The team from Rochester Medical Center University assure the rapid method that determine the E. coli in food by digital camera and laser. In the method, protein which is belong to E. coli is placed chip, and this protein bind with E. coli in sample. As a result of binding, nano-beams occur and determined with digital image.
The similar method is also applied for Salmonella. In this manner E. coli and Salmonella can be determined easily.
- Antimicrobial Package
Antimicrobial surface applications are used in cheese, sliced meat, and bakery products which contact packages directly and have high microorganism on surface.
Spanish manufacturers and researches implemented food film which includes essential cinnamon oil to use for bakery products. USDA researches formed eatable food package which include marjoram oil and apple mash and kill E. coli strains. Britain University is testing packing material which consist of zinc, calcium, magnesium oxide and titanium oxide nano-particles.
- Developed Food Storage
Nanoclays embedded in plastic bottles and nylon food films decrease gas permeability. Developed nano-barriers preserves oxygen sensitive foods and decrease packing cost for manufacturers. Bayer Polymer embedded Nanoclays in carton packages to conserve fruit juice. Are you ready for beer in plastic bottle? With this technology, beer shelf life is prolonged to six months.
- Solubility In Water and Oil
With nanoparticles, the solubility of vitamins, antioxidants, omega fatty acids and other nutrients increase. Nano nutrition particles can completely dissolve in ware and oil.
- Green Packaging
Biodegradable bioplastics, usually made from plant-based materials, have become a big research focus for nanotechnology these days. Plantic, a company in Australia, manufactures their packaging from the starch of organic, non genetically modified corn. Using chitin, the main component of lobster shells, Jochen Weiss at the University of Hohenheim in Germany and Jose Maria Lagaron of the Agrochemistry and Food Technology Institute in Spain are just two of many materials scientists world wide who work with the electrospinning of this natural polymer. Chitosan is dissolved in solvent and the solution drawn through a tiny hole with applied electricity, a long, nano-slim fiber spins out from the hole. These strong and naturally antimicrobial nano fibers from a sustainable source can be developed into green food packaging.
- Decrease of Pesticide Residue
A Cornell University team headed by textile scientist Margaret Frey developed a cloth farmers can use to reduce the amount of crop agrichemicals. Planted along with seeds, the cloth’s saturated nano fibers slowly release pesticides and herbicides so that additional spraying of crops becomes unnecessary. The targeted release also eliminates chemical leaching into the water supply to benefit both consumers and the environment
- Conservation of Monitoring and Quality
California’s Oxonica makes Nanobarcodes from nano-particles that contain silver and gold stripes varying in width, length and amount, such that billions of combinations can be created to tag individual products. The barcodes have been primarily used to assure brand and authenticity in pharmaceuticals, but applications could be forthcoming in tracing food batches. Combined with pathogen sensors, the barcodes that must be read by modified microscopes could trace sources of outbreak.
- Texture
Scaling down the size of food molecules to nano-sized crystals creates more particles for an overall greater surface area. Wageningen University in central Holland has developed water-in-oil-in-water emulsions of nano-sized lipids. Food technologists say food spreadability and stability improve as a result of incorporating these multiple emulsions, as they’re called. For example a low-fat mayonnaise formulation provides a satisfying fatty mouth feel, tasters said, such that extra stabilizers and thickeners aren’t needed to achieve the desirable texture. The nano-emulsion could have its application in formulating other low-fat products.
- Aroma
San Diego-based Senomyx has created novel flavors such as cold and creamy based on a rethinking of how taste buds perceive flavor. Using nanoscale assays, researchers have identified which individual cells on a given taste bud perceive a flavor. Each cell would recognize just one of the five main flavors — bitter, salty, sweet, sour and umami. Working within this conceptualization, the company has developed a library of flavors, including compounds called bitter blockers. These specialized molecules trick the tongue into not tasting the bitterness naturally inherent in foods such as cocoa or soy. These bitter blockers as well as Senomyx’s sweet and salty enhancers have already gotten the nod of approval from food giants such as Nestle and Coca Cola who are responding to consumer desires for packaged foods and beverages formulated with less salt and sugar.
- Defining and Eliminating Bacteria
Researches from North California Clemson University developed chicken feed to eliminate Campylobacter. This feed is enriched with nano-carbohydrates and bind bacteria surfaces and ejected by faeces. This nanoparticles may be used for eliminate and define to other bacteria in the future. Researches also say that this nanoparticles which has antibiotic function can be used for disease threatening.
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