Measuring nanoparticles size distribution in food and consumer products: a review

Nanoparticles are already used in several consumer products including food, food packaging and cosmetics and their detection and measurement in food represent a particularly difficult challenge. In order to fill the void in the official definition of what constitutes a nanomaterial the European Commission has published in October 2011 its recommendation on the definition of nanomaterial. This will have an impact in many different areas of legislation, such as the European Cosmetic Products Regulation, where the current definitions of nanomaterial will come under discussion regarding how they should be adapted in light of this new definition. The text of the recommendation calls for the measurement of the number based particle size distribution in the 1-100 nm size range of all the primary particles present in the sample independently of whether they are in a free, unbound state or as part of an aggregate/agglomerate. This recommendation, while being very comprehensive in describing the criteria for classifying whether a material should be considered “nano”, does present great technical challenges for those who must develop valid and compatible measuring methods. In this review we will give an overview of the current state of the art for the size measurement of particles in the submicron range and for the detection of nanoparticles in food and consumer products, the problems to be overcome and the possible way forward for solving the challenging analytical problem presented by this definition and its use of number size distribution.

CALZOLAI Luigi;  GILLILAND Douglas;  ROSSI Francois; 

2012-08-02

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

JRC69235

1944-0049,   

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19440049.2012.689777,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC69235,   

10.1080/19440049.2012.689777,