This document discusses how nanosensors can be used in the food industry for safety and health purposes. Nanosensors offer improvements in selectivity, speed, and sensitivity compared to traditional methods for determining microbes, contaminants, pollutants, and food freshness. They can be placed in food packaging to rapidly detect pathogens. Wireless nanosensor networks are being developed to monitor food quality throughout the supply chain. The future of the food sector will rely on integrating nanosensor technology and the internet of things for producing and distributing safe nano-enabled products with little health or environmental impact.

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INTERNET OF NANOTHINGS IN FOOD SAFETY
By Melih Erdem
Nanotechnology and Nano sensors Certification Program at Technion
Israel Institue of Technology
05/07/2017

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This work aims to show how nanosensors in food industry can be useful in
terms of safety and human health.
Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that has begun to revolutionize
everyday life. By manipulating matter (smaller than 100 nanometres),
materials can be created with precise and unique qualities.
Our infrastructure as well as agricultural and medical devices may all have
sensors that allow them to automatically report and respond to potentially
devastating changes in their environment. It is these sensors that make a
“thing” able to be part of the IoT [1].
The IoT will continue to slowly but surely evolve the way we interact with and
understand both our environment and ourselves. The addition of
nanotechnology will fill the gaps of the IoT, allowing us to have a more
complete understanding and control of reality.
Nano technology has led to the development of the internet of nano-things
(IoNT). The IoNT is a nano scale network of physical objects that can interact
with each other by ‘Nano communication’. An example of a molecular
communication are nanomachines that function as senders. These can encode
information into information molecules (for example, proteins) that can be
transmitted within a DNA component. This enables the creation of a nano
communication system and networks, using biological components and
processes that are found in nature. The implementation possibilities are
tremendous, particularly for the healthcare sector [2].
The several of connected nanosensors, especially those monitored and
controlled by artificial intelligence systems, can propose tailored-made
solutions to our daily life. For example, your refrigerator call tell you when
you open the door or send SMS to your phone in order to give you the
information regarding the biological or chemical status of your foods.
Nanosensors offer significant improvements in selectivity, speed and
sensitivity compared to traditional chemical and biological methods. They can
be used for determination of microbes, contaminants, pollutants and food
freshness. The nanosensors used in food analyses combine knowledge of

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biology, chemistry and nanotechnology and may also be called nanosensors.
[3].
Nanosensors are placed in food packaging to control internal and external
conditions of food. From a microbiological point of view, the main objective is
to reduce nanosensors pathogen detection time from days to hours or even
minutes [4].Communication between Nanosensors is a promising technology
that ensures the development of new devices capable of performing basic and
simple tasks at nano level (computing, data storage, detection, and
triggering). [5].Nanosensors have the arrangement like ordinary sensors, but
their production is at the nanoscale. Therefore, nanosensor can be defined as
an extremely small device than can bind to whatever is wanted to be detected
and send back a signal. These tiny sensors are capable of detecting and
responding to physicochemical (sensors) and biological signal (biosensors),
transferring that response into a signal or output that can be used by humans
[3].
The nanosensors have a limited field of measurement; therefore, the
development of the wireless nanosensor networks (WNSNs) is essential.Such
networks are a set of nodes of nanosensors dynamically self-organizing
necessarily in a wireless network with possible use in any pre-existing
infrastructure [6].
One of the most recent alternatives is based on the use of graphene, a
nanomaterial of one-atom thickness, which was first obtained experimentally
in 2004.Graphene enables wireless communication between nanosystems,
because of its ability to support surface plasmon polariton (SPP) in the
terahertz frequency range. The main difference between classical plasmonic
antennas and graphene-based plasmonic antennas is that SPP waves in
graphene are observed at frequencies in the Terahertz Band, for example,
two orders of magnitude below SPP waves observed in gold and other noble
materials [4].
As a conclusion, the future of food sector will depend largely on the
technological advancement of nanosensors and its integration to food
production and supply chain. The combination of nanotechnology and green

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IoT will lead to a whole new world of safe nanoproducts and their widespread
applications with little or no hazards to human health and the environment.
References
1. (https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2015/09/29/nanotechnology-
promises-powerful-new-applications-for-the-internet-of-things/
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and-the-law-nanosensors-and-the-internet-of-nano-things/).
3. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309487738_Nanosensors_applic
ations_in_agriculture_and_food_industry
4. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/js/2016/4046061/
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