Advancing Food Nanotoxicology with Microphysiological Systems: Rebalancing the Risk/Benefit Ratio Toward Safer Nano-Enabled Food Innovations

TL;DR

This paper reviews how microphysiological systems can improve the assessment of nanomaterial safety in food, addressing limitations of traditional models and advancing risk evaluation for nano-enabled food innovations.

Contribution

It evaluates the potential of gut-targeted microphysiological systems to better model gastrointestinal exposure to nanomaterials for food safety assessment.

Findings

MPS replicate key gastrointestinal physiological processes.

MPS offer more predictive nanotoxicity data than traditional models.

Advances in MPS can improve nanofood safety evaluation.

Abstract

Incorporating nanomaterials into food products provides key benefits, including extended shelf life, improved safety, and enhanced quality and texture. These innovations could help tackle major challenges in modern food systems, such as reducing waste and enhancing food quality and safety. However, potential toxicity remains a concern, compounded by the lack of physiologically relevant models for assessing ingested nanomaterials. Traditional in vitro and in vivo approaches often fail to mimic gastrointestinal complexity, resulting in inconsistent and non predictive nanotoxicity data that hinder accurate risk assessment of nano enabled foods. To address this gap, this review evaluates the potential of microphysiological systems (MPS), particularly gut-targeted MPS, for modeling gastrointestinal nanoparticle exposure. It examines how MPS technologies replicate key physiological processes relevant to food specific risk assessment, including intestinal barrier function, microbiota immune interactions, and gut organ communication. A comparative analysis of technological advances and their applications in nanotoxicology explores how MPS can be better adapted for nanofood safety evaluation.