Consumers may soon be able to go for longer between milk-buying trips. That's because Brazilian company Agrindus hopes to start marketing plastic milk bottles that use embedded silver nanoparticles to kill bacteria. Grade A pasteurized fresh whole milk packaged in those bottles can reportedly last for up to 15 days, as opposed to the usual seven.
The technology was developed by partner company Nanox, and involves first coating silica ceramic particles with silver nanoparticles. This reportedly has a synergistic effect, with the silica boosting the antimicrobial properties of the silver.
Those coated particles take the form of a powder that is subsequently mixed into liquid polyethylene. Using blow- or injection-molding, that plastic is then made into bottles which Agrindus plans to sell to dairy goods companies. The particles can also be used to make milk bags, which should extend shelf life from four to 10 days.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @01:16PM
[...] I'd not like to introduce any more nanoparticles to my system...
Too bad the industry will ensure labelling laws don't require them to notify you of the contents, so like GM foods, you'll never know what your ingesting. Until it's too late, and we discover all kinds of detrimental health issues that can be traced back to "silver poisoning." But hey, just so long as nothing gets in the way of commerce, all praise our corporate overlords and their duly elected government lackeys.