Nanotechnology in Foods - Nanotechnologies in Food and Agriculture - page 5

1.3 Nanofood Market

A report from a consulting firm Cientifica Report ( 2006 ) has estimated food
applications of nanotechnologies at around

410 million (food processing,

$

210 million).
According to this report, the existing applications are mainly for improved food
packaging, with some applications for delivery systems for nutraceuticals. The
USA is the leader in this business followed by Japan and China (Helmut Kaiser
Consultancy 2004 ). There is a large potential for growth of the food sector in
developing countries. As of now, more than 1,200 companies around the world are
active in research and development. Among these, many of the world

100 million; food ingredients, 100 million; and food packaging,

$ $ $

s leading
food companies including H.J. Heinz, Nestl ´ , Hershey, Unilever, and Kraft are
investing heavily in nanotechnology research and development (Joseph and Mor-
rison 2006 ; Kuzma and Verhage 2006 ; Shelke 2006 ; Miller and Senjen 2008 ;
Momin et al. 2013 ). At present, more than 180 applications are in different
developing stages and a few of them are on the market already. Despite the infancy,
this nanofoods sector is expected to surge from

'

$ 2.6 billion today to $ 7.0 billion in

2015 and to 20.4 billion in 2020. By 2020, Asia with more than 30 % of the world

population will be the biggest market for nanofoods wherein China is the leader
(Helmut Kaiser Consultancy 2004 ).

$

1.4 Nanomaterials for Foods

Top - down approach and bottom - up approach (Table 1.1 ) are the two approaches to
attain nanomaterials for food applications. The “top-down” approach involves
physically machining materials to nanoscale by employing processes such as
grinding, milling, etching, and lithography (Fig. 1.1 ). For example, dry-milling
technology can be used to obtain wheat flour of fine size that has a high water-
binding capacity. It is used to improve antioxidant activity in green tea powder as
reducing size to 1,000 nm by dry milling, the high ratio of nutrient digestion and
absorption resulted in an increase in the activity of an oxygen-eliminating enzyme.
In contrast, self-assembly and self-organization are concepts derived from biology
that have inspired the bottom-up food nanotechnology (Fig. 1.1 ). Bottom-up
approaches build or grow larger structures atom by atom or molecule by molecule.
These techniques include chemical synthesis, self-assembly, and positional assem-
bly. The organization of casein micelles or starch and the folding of globular
proteins and protein aggregates are examples of self-assembly structures that create
stable entities (Sozer and Kokini 2009 ). Self-organization on the nanometer scale
can be achieved by setting a balance between the different non-covalent forces
(Acosta 2008 ; Sanguansri and Augustin 2006 ; Sozer and Kokini 2009 ; Meetoo
2011 ; Cushen et al. 2012 ; Momin et al. 2013 ).