GREEN group Friends of the Earth said Tuesday legal loopholes in Europe bred worries about the impact on health and the environment of nanoscale compounds used in the food industry.

In a report presented to the press, Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE) said it had identified “at least” 104 items of food or products used in the preparation or storage of food on sale in the EU either containing manufactured nanomaterials or having been produced using nanotechnology. There was insufficient scrutiny of these products under existing health and safety laws, it said.

Internationally, several hundred nano-food products were likely to be on sale.

Nanotechnology entails using materials on the scale of a nanometer, or a billionth of a meter.

Nanoparticles are being closely studied in fundamental research because of their potential in science and medicine — as new drugs for cancer, for instance.

But they were increasingly leaving the lab and entering the public domain, raising unresolved questions as to whether they were being vetted for safety — for workers in contact with them and people who use or consume them, FoEE said.

The group’s nano-list included nutritional supplements, cling wrap and containers, anti-bacterial kitchenware, processed meats and chocolate drink.

French scientists, speaking at a press conference in Paris last month, said the principal concerns over nanoparticles were about any effects on the lungs, through inhalation and of toxicity in the blood if, for instance, sunscreen nanoparticles entered an open wound in the skin.