Nanotechnology a 'bigger concern' than GM foods

Opponents to nanotechnology say it is a much scarier prospect than GM food, and while it can make food look better and last longer, there are fears about how it might affect the human body.

The regulator now faces the difficulty of ruling when packaging becomes part of the food.

The CEO of Food Standards Australia New Zealand, Steve McCutcheon, says it is called interactive packaging, where the food takes in chemicals from the packet as it sits on the shelf.

"At the moment, the shelf life of prepacked salad vegetables is fairly short, but with the application of this technology we understand that you could actually package fresh salads, and they would be fresh still after the 30-day period on the shelf," he said.

The development that has given birth to the one-month fresh salad is called nanotechnology - working with particles thousands of times smaller that the width of a human hair.

It is not only for packaging, some companies want to use nanoparticles as ingredients in the food itself.

"We understand that a company in the United States has applied for a patent to cover the use of titanium dioxide and silicone dioxide in chocolate, in nanoparticle form, to give the surface a gloss," he said.