Artificial ‘nano-food’ could soon show up at a store near you
By Vigilant December 6th, 2010
Translation by Autumnson Blog
The scientific community has once again caught food-tampering fever. Recent reports indicate that food scientists are busy developing nanoparticle-modified (NM) food that could one day end up on your dinner plate — and you may never even know about it. By shifting around nanoparticles, food scientists say that fat-free foods can taste like full-fat foods, and they can be programmed to digest more slowly–two changes that some say may help reverse the obesity epidemic.
科學界再次陷入食物篡改發燒，最近的報告指出，食品科學家們正忙於開發納米改性（NM）食物，那可能在某天出現在你的餐盤 - 和你甚至可能永不會知道。通過轉移納米份子，食品科學家們說，無脂肪的食物能味似全脂食物，和它們可被編程消化得較慢 - 兩項轉變有人說可幫助扭轉肥胖流行病。
But most of this research is going on in secret because of fears over how the public will respond. Like genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), nano-modifying food involves literally changing its molecular properties, which has never been proven safe. So naturally, consumers are likely to reject NM food if given the choice.
但這研究的大部份在秘密進行，由於擔心不知公眾如何回應。像轉基因生物（GMOs），納米改性食品涉及實質上改變它的份子本質，那是從來沒有被證明是安全的。因此自然地，消費者可能會拒絕轉性食物，如果被給予選擇。
“These particles could be hazardous and we need to know more about their effects both in the body and in the environment,” said Frans Kampers, coordinator of research on food nanotechnology at Wageningen and Research Center in the Netherlands. “Since these particles are very small, they can…enter cells or even the nucleus of a cell if they have the right characteristics.”
The stated goal of nanotechnology research in food is to create foods that behave differently than real ones in terms of digestion, assimilation, taste and nutritional value. By altering the “nano-structure” of food, so to speak, NM food can be programmed to make people feel fuller faster, for instance. And nutrients in food can also be nano-encapsulated to release at timed intervals to specific parts of the body.
Even though NM food has yet to see the light day, the European Union (EU) is already taking proactive steps to make sure that, if it does make it to consumers, NM food will at least be regulated and labeled. Thus, the EU has developed a research project called NanoLyse to address the “very limited knowledge [that is] available on the potential impact of engineered nanoparticles on consumers’ health.”
http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=5824
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