Nanotechnology is a rapidly evolving and emerging field that refers broadly to applied science and technology that involve matter in the range of 1-100 nanometers--the atomic and molecular scale. There are applications in a variety of fields, including pharmaceuticals (drug delivery) and foods (more specifically, in food stabilizers).

AQUANOVA is a company that has taken advantage of the versatility and new application opportunities nanotechnology offers and has developed and manufactures liquid formulas (“solubilisates”)--under the brand name NovaSOL. These ingredients utilize the company’s proprietary technology to create stable micelle structures on a nanoscale. AQUANOVA is a supplier of food, cosmetic and nutritional ingredients, as well as pharmaceutical actives. The NovaSOL DC/DS product family is an innovative preservation system that utilizes the benefits of their proprietary technology and contains neither any artificial nanoparticles nor applies chemical modification. Instead, the technology creates a stable micelle structure, which is clearly related to nature’s principle of micelles (e.g., in hen eggs or milk).

Even though sorbic and benzoic acid have been used for a long time as preservatives in the food industry, their effectiveness depends heavily on the pH-value of the food matrix in which they are placed. Anything that exceeds a pH of 4.0 diminishes their activity significantly, and above a pH of 6.0, they hold very little activity at all. The NovaSOL DC/DS product line, however, is able to perform in the pH range of 1.0-7.0 with no effect on their activity, thereby widening the scope of applications in which they can be used.

Other key benefits of NovaSOL preservatives are that they can be used for surface applications and have significantly higher solubility compared to conventional forms of sorbic and benzoic acid. The NovaSOL product consists of micelles with a diameter of 30nm, which work as a superior carrier system for the preservatives. They evenly distribute themselves across the surface of a food, thus forming a protective barrier. Due to their structure, they are also 20-30 times more soluble, allowing them to be used in more effective concentrations.

Applications for which Nova-SOL are used include surface applications (NovaSOL DC) such as raw sausage/bacon, dried meats, matured cheese (cheese rind), machinery and accessories. NovaSOL DS works on the inside of foods such as mayonnaise, dressings, soups, desserts, syrups, fine bakery, baked goods, milk and cream substitutes, ice cream, chewing gum, pH-neutral drinkable dietary supplements, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. 
—Kerry Hughes, Contributing Editor

For more information:
AQUANOVA AG, Darmstadt, Germany
Frank Behnam,  +49 6151 66969-0
frank.behnam@aquanova.de, www.aquanova.de