Nanotechnology in the Food Industry

Nanotechnology in the Food Market
Nanotechnology has been described as the new industrial revolution and both developed and developing countries are investing in this technology to secure a market share. At present the USA leads with a 4 year, 3.7 billion USD investment through its National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The USA is followed by Japan and the European Union, which have both committed substantial funds (750 million and 1.2 billion, including individual country contributions, respectively per year).3 The level of funding in developing countries may be comparatively lower, however this has not lessened the impact of some countries on the global stage. For example, China's share of academic publications in nanoscale science and engineering topics rose from 7.5% in 1995 to 18.3% in 2004, taking the country from fifth to second in the world.Others such as India, South Korea, Iran, and Thailand are also catching up with a focus on applications specific to the economic growth and needs of their countries. Iran for example has a focused programme in nanotechnology for the agricultural and food industry. A recent study from the Helmuth Kaiser Consultancy predicts that the nanofood market will surge from 2.6 billion USD to 20.4 billion USD by 2010. The report suggests that with more than 50% of the world population, the largest market for Nanofood in 2010 will be Asia lead by China.

More than 400 companies around the world today are active in nanotechnology research and
development (R&D) and this number is expected to increase to more than 1000 within the
next 10 years. In terms of numbers, the USA leads, followed by Japan, China, and the EU.
An estimate by the Business Communications Company, a technical market research and
industry analysis company shows that, the market for the nanotechnology was 7.6 billion
USD in 2003 and is expected to be 1 trillion USD in 2011.6 However, the full potential of
nanotechnology in the agricultural and food industry has still not been realised.
 

Nanotechnology – the new threat to food