Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
acceptance of food or food-related products that incorporate or use nanomaterials.
In this sense, openness on industry
s part regarding the use of nanomaterials for
food and food packaging applications is necessary to remove public fears about
these materials. Nevertheless, a recent editorial article published in
Nature Nano-
technology
asserted that: “up to 400 companies around the world are researching
possible applications of nanotechnology in food and food packaging - and many of
them do not want their customers to know this” (Anonimous
2010
).
'
7.4 Commercially Available Products with Nanomaterials
for Food Packaging
Even with the lack of legislation, food and health products and food packaging
materials incorporating nanomaterials or using nanotechnology are already avail-
able to consumers in some countries. Much research is being carried out about other
products and applications, and some may reach the market soon. According to the
current trend, it is expected that nanotechnology-derived food and food packaging
products will be increasingly available to consumers worldwide in the next years.
Below, there is a list of materials and containers that can be used for food packaging
applications with nanosized components already in the market.
Materials with Increased Barrier Properties (Nanoclay)
Due to the relative
inexpensive manufacturing (S
´
nchez-Garc
´
a and Lagar
on
2009
), there are already
various companies that have made them commercially available (Nanotechproject
2014
): Nanocor
(USA), with more than 40 issued patents, has a wide variety
of polymer nanocomposites to be purchased in pellet form; there are other
trademarked product lines like Durethan
®
(previously own by Bayer, now from
LANXESS, Germany), Aegis
™
Imperm
®
™
(Honeywell polymers, Korea),
(ColorMatrix Corp., USA), NanoTuff
(Nylon Corporation of America, USA),
and NanoSeal
™
(NanoPack Inc., USA). This kind of products has been used in the
beverage industry for the fabrication of plastic beer bottles with high barriers to
oxygen and carbon dioxide migration by Miller Brewing Company (specifically
Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft, and Ice House brands), Hite Brewery, or
Voridian. Also we can find a Nano flagon—Moon drunker from Top Nano Tech-
nology Co., Ltd. (Taiwan). Constantia Multifilm (USA) has in the market N-Coat, a
clear laminate with, as they say, outstanding gas barrier properties that use a new,
unique nano-based technology: an ultrathin coating of unknown composition
applied on a polyester film.
™
Materials with Antibacterial Properties
Among the commercial products with
nanomaterials with antimicrobial properties, products with nanosilver are the
most widespread. Many products are found in the American and Asian markets
that
claim to include
silver
in nanoform in their polymers
such as
BlueMoonGoods
fresh box silver nanoparticle food storage containers
™
