Determination of the fate and biological responses of food additive silica particles in commercial foods

Jin Yu, Ye Hyun Kim, Hyoung Mi Kim, Jae Min Oh, Young Rok Kim, Soo Jin Choi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Synthetic amorphous silica (SAS) is widely added to commercial foods as an anticaking agent. Concern about the potential application of nanosized silica in foods has increased as nanomaterials are not intended for use as food additives. This study evaluated the particle size distributions and biological responses of food additive SAS. An accurate, sensitive, and cost-effective analytical method for probing SAS was established, and quantitative analysis of its presence in commercial foods was performed. The results demonstrate that food additive SAS is an aggregated material composed of nanosized particles with nanosized aggregates of silica particles identified in commercial foods. Food additive SAS did not exhibit acute cytotoxicity compared to both general-grade nano (G-nano) and bulk (G-bulk) silica. Moreover, intestinal transport amounts of food additive SAS were significantly lower than for G-nano. Taken together, we find that food additive SAS does not exhibit acute toxicity resulting from nanosized materials.

Original languageEnglish
Article number127304
JournalFood Chemistry
Volume331
DOIs
StatePublished - 30 Nov 2020

Keywords

  • Commercial foods
  • Cytotoxicity
  • Fate
  • Food additive synthetic amorphous silica
  • Nanoparticle
  • Quantitative analysis

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