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Engineered Nanomaterials in our Food Supply are Here to Stay

  • Spence Cooper
  • March 30, 2010
Is there something on our food?
Is there something going on with our food?

Last year, a Friends of the Earth report disclosed that untested nanotechnology is being used in more than 100 food products, food packaging and contact materials currently on the shelf without warning or FDA testing.

Supermarkets currently stock an unknown amount of nano-food products, and there is no mandatory product labeling requirement in the U.S. or anywhere in the world.

Although the FDA denies nano-food products are sold in the U.S., some of the agency’s own safety experts dispute the FDA’s official claim and reference scientific studies published in food science journals, and foreign food safety reports.

Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have shown that nanoparticles pose potential risks to human health; among the risks are possible DNA damage that can lead to cancer and heart and brain disease.

Although the properties of nanoparticles are governed by quantum mechanics, nanoparticles can be found today in the produce section of large grocery store chains and vegetable wholesalers.

A researcher — who requested not to be identified — with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and member of a group that examined Central and South American farms and packers that ship fruits and vegetables into the U.S. and Canada, claims 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 extends the color and flavor of the fruit.

“We found no indication that the nanocoating, which is manufactured in Asia, has ever been tested for health effects,” said the researcher.

Scientific groups, consumer activists and several international food manufactures told a science committee of the British House of Lords that engineered nanoparticles were already being sold in salad dressings; sauces; diet beverages; and boxed cake, muffin and pancakes mixes, with hundreds of additional items expected in stores by the end of the year.

Kraft Foods has established the Nanotek Consortium, a collaboration of 15 universities and national research labs, and almost twenty of the world’s largest food manufacturers, including Nestle, Hershey, Cargill, Campbell Soup, Sara Lee, and H.J. Heinz, have in-house nano-labs, or have contracts with major universities to conduct nano-related food research.

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