A comprehensive perspective of food nanomaterials

Abstract

Nanotechnology is a rapidly developing toolbox that provides solutions to numerous challenges in the food industry and meet public demands for healthier and safer food products. The diversity of nanostructures and their vast, tunable functionality drives their inclusion in food products and packaging materials to improve their nutritional quality through bioactive fortification and probiotics encapsulation, enhance their safety due to their antimicrobial and sensing capabilities and confer novel sensorial properties. In this food nanotechnology state-of-the-art communication, matrix materials with particular focus on food-grade components, existing and novel production techniques, and current and potential applications in the fields of food quality, safety and preservation, nutrient bioaccessibility and digestibility will be detailed. Additionally, a thorough analysis of potential strategies to assess the safety of these novel nanostructures is presented.

Keywords: Bioaccessibility; Delivery systems; Encapsulation; Flavor protection; Food preservation; Food quality; Food safety; Nanoreactors; Nanosensing; Nanostructures; Texture.