In the continuing saga of the development of government policies about nanotechonolgy, the biggest recent news comes out of Europe. The European food safety body announced a definition of “nanomaterials” that has caused the latest buzz.
Packaging applications have been early targets for nanomaterials, which can also be used to make foods, drugs, inks and other commercial products. When you intentionally make particles very small, they can perform differently than the same substance in traditional-sized particles. All masses being equal, there is more surface area on the nano particle than on the larger particle, which can affect chemical and physical properties.
