Presence and risks of nanosilica in food products

Abstract

This study uniquely describes all steps of the risk assessment process for the use of one specific nanomaterial (nanosilica) in food products. The aim was to identify gaps in essential knowledge and the difficulties and uncertainties associated with each of these steps. Several food products with added silica (E551) were analyzed for the presence, particle size and concentration of nanosilica particles, using experimental analytical data, and the intake of nanosilica via food was estimated. As no information is available on the absorption of nanosilica from the gastrointestinal tract, two scenarios for risk assessment were considered. The first scenario assumes that the silica is absorbed as dissolved silica, while the second scenario assumes that nanosilica particles themselves are absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. For the first scenario no adverse effects are expected to occur. For the second scenario there are too many uncertainties to allow proper risk assessment. Therefore, it is recommended to prioritize research on how nanosilica is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract.

Optical transparency and mechanical properties of semi-refined iota carrageenan film reinforced with SiO2 as food packaging material

“…One of reinforcement agent is silicon dioxide (SiO2), which is known as silica. It is a non-metal oxide made from silicon and oxygen [10]. Silica particles are usually present in the form of fine white amorphous powder or colloidal suspension.…”

Nanomaterialien in Lebensmitteln – toxikologische Eigenschaften und Risikobewertung

“…Aber auch bei der Lebensmittelherstellung können nanoskalige Metallpartikel, etwa durch Maschinenabrieb, entstehen und in den Lebensmitteln verbleiben [5]. Auch einige Lebensmittelzusatzstoffe können Anteile von Partikeln im Nanomaßstab enthalten: beispielsweise Titandioxid (E171) und Siliziumdioxid (E551) [6][7][8]. Zur Exposition liegen nur für wenige Partikelspezies Daten vor.…”

Scientific basis of nanotechnology, implications for the food sector and future trends

“…Hyphenated ICP-MS-based methods have been increasingly used in this respect, for instance HDC-ICP-MS for the determination of SAS (Dekkers et al, 2011) or asymmetric flow FFF-ICP-MS for the determination of nanoclays (Schmidt et al, 2009) or SAS (Heroult, Nischwitz, Bartczak, & Goenaga-Infante, 2014) in various food matrices. A different approach consists in sp-ICP-MS, which has been used either alone (R. J.…”