Remember the broohaha over Genetically Modified food and consumer reaction to it? Perhaps you don't. In the US few seemed to bat their eyelids. But in Europe GM food is still fighting public rejection caused in large part by a belief that in its introduction to the market people weren't being properly explained the nature and implication of the genetic modification of plants.

Nanotechnology is the science of engineering biological molecules toward functions that are very difference from those they have in nature.

At an Institute of Food Technologists' conference last week, some players thought it might be better to introduce this science of the teeny weeny without mentioning it to anyone. Nanotechnology is about delivering micronutrients better, providing a longer shelf life to processed foods, being able to detect foodborne pathogens more effectively and more. It's science, not nature. Perhaps that doesn't matter. But we certainly should be told exactly what it is and how it is to be used in the stuff we consider putting into our bodies. Whether or not nanotechnology can provide safer and healthier food, consumers should be part of the debate.

Posted on Wednesday 28th July 2010 in Blog