NANOTECHNOLOGIES AND
AGRO-FOOD SECTOR
In this magazine we have already written a lot about nanotechnologies and in this issue we want to tackle a very delicate problem, namely their role in the agri-food sector.
Nanotechnology means the manipulation of matter in a nanometer scale (a nanometer equals 10-9 meters). Engineered nanomaterials (engineered nanomaterials Enms), generally between 1 and 100 nm in size, exhibit new properties, called quantum effects, not exhibited by identical substances of greater dimensions.
Starting from the first applications in the field of materials, the use of nanotechnologies has rapidly expanded to many sectors such as the medical-pharmaceutical, electronic and agri-food sectors.
The 2000s have seen the beginnings of the applications of nanotechnology in commercial products, although most applications are limited to the bulk use of passive nanomaterials.