Nanotechnology in food
Max Rubner Conference brings experts to Karlsruhe
The Max Rubner Conference on the subject of nanotechnology in food, which took place from October 10 to 12, 2010 in Karlsruhe, was very popular. Even in the first lectures, however, it became clear that there are still many open questions and intensive research efforts are necessary.What is “nano” actually? For this question alone, very different approaches and definitions emerged from the lectures of the international group of scientists at the Max Rubner Conference. If an aluminum coating that is only 50 nanometers thick is applied to food packaging in a conventional manner, as presented by Prof. Horst-Christian Langowski from the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging (IVV), it can be discussed whether this layer with a large surface area nevertheless " Nano "is. Since the definition of “nano” based on size (1-100 nanometers) is obviously insufficient, additions such as “consciously manufactured” (“engineered nanoparticle”) and “with new functionality” are often used by scientists. But what does “consciously” mean? A question that was also discussed in the panel discussion that followed the conference without a final result. The need for a uniform, generally accepted definition, on the other hand, was undisputed.