EFSA’s Opinion on Nanotechnology and Food and Feed Safety

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a public consultation on its draft scientific opinion in relation to nanoscience and nanotechnologies and food and feed safety. Nanotechnology is a field of applied sciences and technologies involving the control of matter on the atomic and molecular scale, normally below 100 nanometers. The technology enables the management of food ingredients on a molecular level and it is claimed that nanotechnology products could have a substantial impact on the food and feed sector in the future. Given the novelty of this technology, the safety of possible food and feed applications needs to be assessed. The European Commission asked for EFSA’s opinion since consideration is needed to be given as to whether risk assessment approaches in place can be appropriately applied to this technology.

EFSA concluded that the current approaches to risk assessment for non-nano chemicals can also be applied to engineered nano materials (ENM). The EU agency however noted that limitations and uncertainties exist, especially when it comes to characterizing, detecting and measuring ENM in food, feed or the human body. There is limited information on the toxicity, absorption excretion and metabolism of ENM.

Download the scientific opinion at http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/DocumentSet/sc_opinion_nano_public_consultation.pdf?ssbinary=true or visit http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=EFSA%2FPage%2Fntp_A&cid=1178680051353&pagename=efsa for more information.