Nanotechnology and food safety

Nanoscale objects are not new; they have been known to exist for decades. Yet, it was the ability of scientists to see and engineer nanostructures via self- or directed assembly in the 1980s that catalyzed their rapid development. Nanotechnology has now evolved into a convergent discipline involving a variety of sciences (physical, chemical, biological, engineering, and electronic) designed to understand and manipulate structures and devices at nanoscale. The use of nano-based consumer products is growing rapidly and many such products are available in the market. To date, more than 1800 consumer products that are self-identified by the manufacturers as containing nanotechnology are included in the public database (Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, 2018). Nano-based goods are projected by various sources to be an estimated $2.6 trillion global industry by 2014 (ScienceDaily, 2007) and a nano-dominated future is not too distant.