Nanotechnology in Food?

Larry A. Law

You're probably very aware that nanotechnology has been used with mRNA shots but did you know it is also being used in processed food? In the early 2000s commercial products began using nanotechnology to reduce ingredients in size down to a billionth of a meter. By way of comparison, a billion seconds would take 31.7 years in time (that's a huge total amount of time for something so seemingly small that goes by so quickly!). Going the other way and dividing a meter into a billion pieces makes it extremely tiny. To give you an idea of how small that is, a strand of DNA is 2.5 nanometers (nm) wide.

​Initially, applications of this technology were limited to materials like titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles for sunscreen, cosmetics, and some food products. Silver nanoparticles were used in food packaging, clothing, disinfectants and household appliances. But currently it is estimated that there are 1900-2500 products in food processing alone with new creations hitting the market every week. 

Goals of Nanotechnology

Technically, nanomaterials are defined as being smaller than 100 nm. Due to their extremely small size, these ingredients have unique properties not exhibited by their larger counterparts. They can have novel physical and chemical properties related to color, solubility, and heat. They can be used to improve the sensory qualities of food such as taste/flavor, texture, and color. They are also used in food packaging to enable detection of microbial contamination. Encapsulating nanoparticles in lipid molecules (just like the mRNA vaccines), enables the delivery of bioactive compounds (nutrients) to hopefully enhance the bioavailablity in foods. All of this sounds wonderful but the devil is in the details. 

Risks of Nanotechnology

​When materials are artificially broken down and synthetically made so small in a laboratory, there are big risks when consumed in the body. Without significant testing to assess these risks, the potential remains for significant harm. These tiny ingredients bypass the natural regulatory process the cells have in place to control what comes in and what stays out. Glycoproteins on the glycocalyx serve as a key doorway for communicating with each human cell and initiating specific responses. However, ingredients this small can bypass that traffic signal and diffuse through the cell membrane without being properly vetted by the cell's regulatory system. This can throw off cellular function in a myriad of ways. Unfortunately, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed these substances to enter our food supply under their Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) authorization; this means that the FDA accepts and declares this technology safe and effective without any testing whatsoever (does that remind anyone about the way they handled COVID vaccines?).  

Facts Matter Video

An excellent 20-minute video investigating this problem was produced by The Epoch Times; I highly recommend that you watch it (thank you Sara L. for pointing it out!). I had no idea that things made with nanotechnology are not  required to be labeled as such. The video will explain that this technology is commonly used for titanium dioxide (to increase the whiteness of milk, yogurt, and sugar), silicon dioxide (as an anti-caking agent), iron or zinc dioxides (hoping to increase nutritional bioavailability), silver derivatives (sterilizing and preservative agents), calcium carbonate, and tricalcium phosphate to name a few. Making food more colorful, creamier, crunchier, fresher, and brighter is not a crime, but the side-effects resulting from the misapplication of this technology could be.

This technology in food applications is banned in Europe and Canada. If you remember the battle with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), you will appreciate that these areas of the world have always been more on the side of safety and testing than the United States. For example, the FDA failed to protect the American public in these vital areas: 1) GMOs with excessive applications of Roundup (a known carcinogen), 2) vaccine side-effects (especially COVID-19 shots), 3) nitrites/nitrates (used in processed meats as a preservative without any dietary warning label; these molecules are classified by the World Health Organization as Group 1 carcinogens known to cause cancer, and 4) nanotechnology. It's time to replace the FDA.