Page 86 - Full Solutions 2nd Advanced Student Book_Neat

Nano-food Most people have heard about the'smart' 'nanobiotechnology', believes the pubtic witt
food packaging that wjtt warn when
aLmost certainLy reject nano-food because
oxygen has got inside, or if food is going of the perceived periLs. 'Very LittLe risk
r Witty Wonka is the father of nano-food. off - research on that is comptete and the assessment has been done on this area,
The great chocolate-factory owner, you'L[ products are arriving. Samsung has fridges even on some products already entering
remember, invented a chewing gum that on the market in Asia and America that use the market'. What's to be afraid of, from a
was a fut[ three-course dinner. ']t wil.t be nano-silver to kiL[ bacteria. Atso avaiLable technotogy that offers so much - heaLthier
the end of aLt kitchens and cookingi he totd in American supermarkets is cooking oiL food, fewer, better-targeted chemicaLs, Iess
the children on his tour - and produced a that, in theory, can be kept fresh for ever - waste,'smart' (and thus tess) packaging,
prototype sampte of Wonka's Magic Chewing thanks to nano-engineered molecuLes whjch and even the promise of a technoLogicaI
Gum. 0ne strip of this woul.d de[iver tomato lock onto contaminants. These coutd atso soLution to the probLem of the one bi[Lion
soup, roast beef with roast potatoes and simptify the process of cLeaning drinking peop[e who don't get enough to eat? 'Matter
blueberry pie and ice cream - in the right water - potentially hugety important for has different behaviour at nano-scaLes,'
order. the devel"oping world. ]n AustraLia, you can says Dr Kees Eijket from the Dutch Twente
2 Far-fetched? The processed-food giant buy bread that contains undetectab[e nano- University.'That means djfferent hazards
Kraft and a group of research laboratorjes capsutes of omega-3, a vatuabte nutrjent are associated with it. We don't know what
are busy working towards 'programmabLe found naturaLty in oity fish l"ike saimon. these are.' For exampLe, some metals wiLL kiL[
food'. 0ne product they are working on is 4 Food manufacturers including UniLever bacteria at nano-scate - hence the interest
a co[ourtess, tasteLess drink that you. the and Nest[6 plan to use nano-encapsutation in using them in food packaging - but what
consumer, witt design after you've bought it. to improve shel.f tife and engineer wit[ happen if they get off the packaging
You'l"t decide what colour and flavour you'd taste sensations in fat-based foods like and into us? CouLd they be a threat to our
Like the drink to be, and what nutrients it choco[ates. ice creams and spreads. There heatth? No one seems to know.
witl have in it, once you get home. You'l-L coutd be huge reductions in fat and sal.t 6 The sjze question is centraI to these
zap the product with a correctty-tuned in processed foods. Unjtever believes it concerns. Nano-particles that are under 100
microwave transmjtter - presumab[y Kraft can reduce the fat content of ice cream nano-metres wide - less than the size of
wil.[ seLL you that. too. Thjs wjtI. activate from fifteen per cent to one per cent. In a virus - have unique abitities. They can
nano-capsules - each one about 2.000 the future, atomic-[eve[ encapsuLation cross the body's naturaI barrjers. entering
times smatler than the width of a hair - techniques wiLt get more sophisticated. A into cetts or through the Liver into the
containing the.necessary chemjca[s for your chef might decide that some flavours in his btoodstream or even through the ce[L wa[[
choice of drink: green-hued, btackcurrant- dish woutd onty be released to the eater a surrounding the brain.'I'd tike to drjnk a
flavoured with a touch of caffeine and certain number of seconds or minutes after glass of water and know that the contents
omega-3, say. They wi[[ dissolve whiLe alt chewing, or when they sip a gLass of wine. are going into my stomach and not into my
the other possibte ingredients witl pass Further ahead. the industry is Looking at Lungsi says Dr Qasim Chaudhry of the British
unused through your body, in their nano- food that is pre-engineered to cater for your government's CentraL Scjence Laboratory. 'We
ca psu [es. tastes, your dislikes and your atlergies - or are giving very toxic chemicals the abitity to
3 The end of cooking? Probably not. But just built from scratch. Uttimatety, it might cross celt membranes, to go where they've
nano-food and nano-food packaging are be possib[e to create any meaI you want never gone before. Where witL they end up?
on thejr way because the food industry at the push of a button, using nothing but It has been shown that free nano-particles
has spotted the chance for huge profits: plant proteins. inhaLed can go straight to the brain. There
according to analysts, the busjness wi[L soon 5 But Dr David Bennett, a veteran are lots of concerns. We have to ask - do
be worth $20 bitlion annua[Ly. You'[L first biochemist now working on a European the benefits outweigh the risks?'
meet nanotechnology in food packaging. Commjssion project on the ethics of

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