Food for thought: nanotechnology and food regulation in New Zealand
Nanotechnology—science of the very small
There is no universally accepted regulatory definition of ‘nanotechnology’. However, nanotechnology is commonly described as involving the control of matter on a nanoscale, in the size range from 1nm to 100nm.
Nantechnologies have a range of applications for food products and packaging. Nanomaterials could be used as delivery systems for vitamins or bioactive nutrients, or to create foods with unaltered taste but lower salt, sugar, or fat levels. Food packaging containing nanoparticles could inhibit bacteria, control the amount of oxygen that gets into food, or indicate whether foods have been transported and stored at the right temperature.
Humans have ingested nanoscale particles for thousands of years in traditional foods (in milk, for example). Concern has arisen, though, over the use of engineered nanomaterials. Not enough is known about how these engineered materials may behave when ingested.
It is hard to establish the extent to which nanotechnologies are currently being used in the food sector. The two global inventories of nano-derived products list a handful of food products involving some form of nanotechnology in their manufacture. However, this probably does not accurately reflect what is on the market.
Regulation of nanomaterials in New Zealand
There is almost no specific regulation of nanomaterials in New Zealand.
Existing regulations will broadly cover the potential uses of nanotechnology in food. Before they can be legally supplied in Australia and New Zealand, all new food substances are assessed by Food Safety Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) against the applicable food standard. This would also apply to newly manufactured nanoscale particles. FSANZ has not yet received any applications to approve any manufactured nanoscale particles for food use.
Within this broad framework, however, there is a need for some specific guidelines for nanotechnologies and nanomaterials. A recent report from the United Kingdom provides some direction on what these guidelines should cover.
Report from the House of Lords
In February 2009, the House of Lords’ Science and Technology Committee (the Committee) launched an enquiry into the use of nanotechnology in food products and the food industry. The Committee published its report in January 2010.
Among its many recommendations, the Committee made the following points about regulation of nano-derived food products:
- Regulators must develop a definition of nanomaterials, which should be based on functionality rather than size of a nanoparticle. The Committee recommends that all materials with a dimension under 1000 nm are included in regulation.
- Any regulatory definition of ‘nanomaterials’ should exclude those created from natural substances, except for nanomaterials that have been deliberately chosen or engineered to take advantage of their nanoscale properties.
- To avoid products being inappropriately under- or over- regulated, there must be clear guidelines for what fraction of a product needs to be at the nanoscale before nano-specific regulatory oversight is triggered.
- Maintaining a public registry of foods containing nanomaterials is preferable to requiring blanket labelling of nanomaterials on packaging.
- Transparency on the part of the food industry is critical to address potential public fears and concerns about nanotechnology. Stakeholders spoken to by the Committee confirmed that public attitudes towards the use of nanotechnologies were among the most important factors in determining their future in the food sector.
The future of nanotechnology and food in New Zealand
However, the ultimate success of nano-derived foods will be determined by how well the industry deal with public fears about this ‘science of the very small’.
An edited version of this article was published in NZBIO journal, BIOACTIVE, March 2010
