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Subject: | [Health_and_Healing] Regulated or Not, Nano-Foods Coming to a Store Near You |
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Reply-To: | Health_and_Healing@yahoogroups.com |
http://snipurl.com/v36bf [AOL News]
Regulated or Not, Nano-Foods Coming to a Store
Near You
Second in a Three-Part Series
(March 24) — For centuries, it was the
cook and the heat of the fire that cajoled
taste, texture, flavor and aroma from the
pot. Today, that culinary voodoo is being
crafted by white-coated scientists toiling
in pristine labs, rearranging atoms into
chemical particles never before seen.
At last year's Institute of Food
Technologists international conference,
nanotechnology was the topic that
generated the most buzz among the
14,000 food-scientists, chefs and
manufacturers crammed into an Anaheim,
Calif., hall. Though it's a word that has
probably never been printed on any
menu, and probably never will, there was
so much interest in the potential uses of
nanotechnology for food that a separate
daylong session focused just on that
subject was packed to overflowing.
In one corner of the convention center, a
chemist, a flavorist and two food-
marketing specialists clustered around a
large chart of the Periodic Table of
Elements (think back to high school
science class). The food chemist, from
China, ran her hands over the chart,
pausing at different chemicals just long
enough to say how a nano-ized version of
each would improve existing flavors or
create new ones.
Also in This Series:
- Amid Nanotech's Dazzling Promise,
Health Risks Grow
- Obsession With Growth Stymies
Regulators
- Why Nanotech Hasn't (Yet) Triggered
the 'Yuck Factor'
- Nano-Products Are Everywhere
Background:
- Primer: How Nanotechnology Works
- Timeline: Nanotech's Evolution
- Chart: Funding Shortchanges Safety
- Key Findings of This Investigation
One of the marketing guys questioned
what would happen if the consumer found
out.
The flavorist asked whether the Food and
Drug Administration would even allow
nanoingredients.
Posed a variation of the latter question,
Dr. Jesse Goodman, the agency's chief
scientist and deputy commissioner for
science and public health, gave a
revealing answer. He said he wasn't
involved enough with how the FDA was
handling nanomaterials in food to discuss
http://www.aolnews.com/nanotech/article/regulated-or-not-nano-foods-coming-to-a-store-near-you/19...
that issue. And the agency wouldn't
provide anyone else to talk about it.
This despite the fact that hundreds of
peer-reviewed studies have shown that
nanoparticles pose potential risks to
human health — and, more specifically,
that when ingested can cause DNA
damage that can prefigure cancer and
heart and brain disease.
Despite Denials, Nano-Food Is Here
Officially, the FDA says there aren't any
nano-containing food products currently
sold in the U.S.
Not true, say some of the agency's own
safety experts, pointing to scientific
studies published in food science
journals, reports from foreign safety
agencies and discussions in gatherings
like the Institute of Food Technologists
conference.
In fact, the arrival of nanomaterial onto
the food scene is already causing some
big-chain safety managers to demand
greater scrutiny of what they're being
offered, especially with imported food and
beverages. At a conference in Seattle last
year hosted by leading food safety
attorney Bill Marler, presenters raised the
issue of how hard it is for large
supermarket companies to know precisely
what they are purchasing, especially with
nanomaterials, because of the volume
and variety they deal in.
Getty Images
According to a USDA scientist, some
Latin American packers spray U.S.-bound
produce with a wax-like nanocoating to
extend shelf-life. "We found no indication
that the nanocoating ... has ever been
tested for health effects," the researcher
says.
Craig Wilson, assistant vice president for
safety for Costco, says his chain does not
test for nanomaterial in the food products
it is offered by manufacturers. But, he
adds, Costco is looking "far more carefully
at everything we buy. ... We have to rely
on the accuracy of the labels and the
integrity of our vendors. Our buyers know
that if they find nanomaterial or anything
else they might consider unsafe, the
vendors either remove it, or we don't buy
it."
Another government scientist says
nanoparticles can be found today in
produce sections in some large grocery
chains and vegetable wholesalers. This
scientist, a researcher with the USDA's
Agricultural Research Service, was part of
a group that examined Central and South
American farms and packers that ship
fruits and vegetables into the U.S. and
Canada. According to the USDA
researcher — who asked that his name
not be used because he's not authorized
to speak for the agency — apples, pears,
peppers, cucumbers and other fruit and
vegetables are being coated with a thin,
wax-like nanocoating to extend shelf-life.
The edible nanomaterial skin will also
protect the color and flavor of the fruit
longer.
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