Overview on the safety of commercial products containing metallic nanoparticles in the food sector

The objective of this work was to highlight the importance of testing in a realistic way, metallic nanoparticles-based products, used in the food sector in order to provide representative data for a realistic and accurate risk assessment. To this end we give a brief overview of the current use and applications of metallic nanoparticles in the food industry, how the toxicological evaluations of nanoparticles in food should be performed and how nanoparticles-based products are regulated worldwide. This brief overview work provides a picture of the latest issues on the safety evaluation of metallic nanoparticles in the food sector and identifies also some major points that are important to take into consideration for future studies.