Understanding the behaviour of engineered nanoparticles in food products

• Main Author: Low, Liang Wei
• Other Authors: Ng Kee Woei
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/70670
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Recent advancements in nanotechnology has benefitted many industries, including the food industry. However, the lack of studies on the safety issues of nanostructured materials in food products and the increasing usage of nanostructured materials in food applications have raised safety concerns. With the development of a robust extraction protocol, the nanostructured materials in food products can be characterized and analyzed for further studies concerning its toxicity effects and potential health risks. In this study, a robust extraction protocol was developed and optimized in this study to isolate the nanostructured materials from their complex food matrix. Widely used food additives, food grade titanium dioxide (E171) and silica (E551) were successfully extracted from M&M peanut chocolate and Nestle Coffee-mate in this study. The qualitative and quantitative analysis confirmed the efficacy and reproducibility of the extraction protocol through the successful separation of the engineered nanoparticles from their respective food matrix. Furthermore, it was found out in this study that 9% of the titanium dioxide extracted from M&M peanut chocolate and 11.5% of pristine titanium dioxide food additive E171 are nano-sized (1-100nm). Different concentrations of titanium in the different colors of M&M peanut chocolate (green, red and brown) were also observed. Green, M&M peanut chocolate, have the highest concentration of extracted pellet (3.20 μg/mg), followed by red (2.36 μg/mg) and brown (0 μg/mg) having negligible amount of extracted pellet. In addition, the consumption limit of red and green M&M peanut chocolate, and Nestle coffee-mate coffee creamer were approximated and were unrealistically high, indicating the relative safe consumption of these food products.