Materials
Shoppers accept nanotechnology in packagingSimeon Goldstein, 25 July 2008Be the first to comment on this article Consumers will accept nanotechnology in packaging to prolong the shelf life of food, but are less keen on its use to modify the colour, taste and proportion of nutrients in the food, according to a study. The research, carried out by Professor Michael Siegrist at the Institute for Environmental Decisions at ETH Zurich, asked nearly 350 people from Switzerland about their risk perception for various kinds of food and packaging that could benefit from the functions of nanoparticles. These included “individually modifiable foods”, such as ready meals, products containing cancer-preventative additives, a chemical salmonella detector, the nano-encapsulation of vitamins, green tea, and packaging that protects food from UV light. The results, published in the journal Appetite, revealed that the acceptance of nanotechnology in packaging was relatively high, while the nanotech food was evaluated more critically, said Siegrist. He added that the only way to guarantee consumers’ confidence in nanotechnology would be to communicate better why it was being used in foodstuffs. ETH Zurich, often called the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, is a science and technology university based in Switzerland. Speak Your Mind |
Popular Articles
|
Loading ...
