Nanotechnology in Food Sector and Agriculture
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REVIEW
Nanotechnology in Food Sector and Agriculture Siddhartha Shrivastava • Debabrata Dash
Received: 30 September 2011 / Accepted: 4 August 2012 Ó The National Academy of Sciences, India 2012
Abstract Proper nutrition and a clean environment promote human health. Nanotechnology is used to a limited extent at the moment for achieving these aims although it has the potential to revolutionize agriculture and food sectors by their ground breaking scientific innovations. So far, the use of nanotechnology in agriculture has been mostly theoretical, but it has begun and will continue to have a significant effect in the main areas of the food industry: development of new functional materials, product development, and design of methods and instrumentation for food safety and bio-security. The effects on society as a whole will be dramatic. The article reviews some of the current nanotechnology research that is applicable to agriculture and food technology and project what the future will bring to the newly emerging field of Agrifood Nanotechnology. Keywords
Nanomaterials Agrifood Nanosensor
Introduction Current applications of nanotechnology are in the field of electronics, automation, super-materials and life sciences such as pharmaceuticals and medicine. Among the nanotechnology consumer products to date, health and fitness products form the largest category, followed by electronics and computers as well as home and garden category. Nanotechnology is only used to a limited extent at the moment for achieving proper nutrition and a clean S. Shrivastava D. Dash (&) Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India e-mail: [email protected]
environment [1]. Nevertheless, experts foresee the potential of nanotechnology to revolutionize the agriculture and the food industry [2–5]. Agricultural and food security systems, disease-treatment, delivery methods, sensors for pathogen detection, ecological protection, and education of the public and future workforce are the areas where nanotechnology could have major impact on the science and engineering of agriculture and food systems. Nanotechnological advancements will boost food industry by development of new functional materials, micro- and nanoscale processing, product development, and design of methods and instrumentation for food safety and biosecurity [2]. Some of the benefits of nanotechnology will be passed on to the food sector through agriculture and agricultural research like the development of new tools in molecular and cellular biology which will enhance reproductive science and technology; conversion of agricultural and food wastes into energy and useful by-products through enzymatic nanobioprocessing, and disease prevention and treatment of plants and animals. New materials with peculiar characters at the nanoscale level such as self-assembly and self-healing properties, or abilities for pathogen and contaminant detection, could be the breakthrough in the agriculture and food industry. Nanotechn
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