The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Human Food Program (HFP) has prepared a list of priority research, data, and method needs that, if fulfilled, will help FDA better understand the underlying factors that may cause or contribute to health risks from HFP-regulated products. FDA states that it provided these research, data, and method needs for researchers interested in pursuing science that is useful to advancing the safety of the U.S. food supply. According to FDA, the list may also be helpful for writing grants to agencies that fund food safety research, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the National Institutes of Health, and others identified through Grants.gov. The list includes the following topics regarding the impact of manufacturing procedures, practices, and processes on risk:

• Determine the impact of nanoparticle type, polymer composition, food composition, and processing on nanoparticle migration; and
• Study the impact of polymer polarity, nanoparticle composition, and emerging food sterilization processes (such as e-beam irradiation) on the quantity and form of nanoparticle-derived material that migrates from packaging materials.

FDA states that it will update the list periodically.