The Food and Environment Research Agency, Sand Hutton, York Y041 1LZ, UK; The University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
The University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
Food Chem. 2015 Jun 1;176:472-9. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.12.071. Epub 2015 Jan 3.
Electron microscopy is a recognized standard tool for nanomaterial characterization, and recommended by the European Food Safety Authority for the size measurement of nanomaterials in food. Despite this, little data have been published assessing the reliability of the method, especially for size measurement of nanomaterials characterized by a broad size distribution and/or added to food matrices. This study is a thorough investigation of the measurement uncertainty when applying electron microscopy for size measurement of engineered nanomaterials in foods. Our results show that the number of measured particles was only a minor source of measurement uncertainty for nanomaterials in food, compared to the combined influence of sampling, sample preparation prior to imaging and the image analysis. The main conclusion is that to improve the measurement reliability, care should be taken to consider replications and matrix removal prior to sample preparation.
电子显微镜是纳米材料特性分析的公认标准工具，欧洲食品安全局也推荐将其用于食品中纳米材料的尺寸测量。尽管如此，几乎没有发表的数据评估该方法的可靠性，特别是对于尺寸分布较宽和/或添加到食品基质中的纳米材料的尺寸测量。本研究全面调查了在食品中应用电子显微镜测量工程纳米材料的尺寸测量不确定度。我们的研究结果表明，与采样、成像前样品制备和图像分析的综合影响相比，测量的颗粒数量对于食品中的纳米材料仅为测量不确定度的次要来源。主要结论是，为了提高测量的可靠性，在进行样品制备之前，应注意考虑重复和基质去除。
