Courting controversy is what the food-retail industry does very well: from genetically modified food to cloning we are constantly faced with new technologies which may benefit the industry but will stretch our morals.

Now there is a new technology on the horizon which is set to revolutionise the journey our food makes from farm to fork. It is called nanotechnology – the science involved in changing the core molecular structure of substances or objects – in short, it can alter almost anything. When applied to food, this technology could render what we eat more healthy, less chemically toxic, and provide a range of other benefits to the consumer and producer alike.

The idea of nanotechnology is not new. In 1959, physicist Richard Feynman set the cogs in motion when he gave a talk to the American Physical Society, speaking of a time in the future where individual atoms and molecules could be manipulated to revolutionise everything from chemistry to aeronautics and bring about a second industrial revolution.

A nanometer is derived from the Greek word nanos, or dwarf, and is one-billionth of a metre, so the scale that scientists are working with is inconceivably tiny. In the 1980s, we finally developed microscopes that allowed scientists to see for the first time how atoms and molecules behaved in different environments, with changes to temperature, chemicals, moisture, electromagnetism and so on, thus bringing about the first steps into nanotechnology research.

Now this technology is working its way to our plates. Wouldn't it be great to eat a beef steak that is beneficial for your heart? Or a chocolate bar that has less fat than a stick of celery? With nanotechnology, these examples may well be possible in the future and it could change the entire production and distrubution process too.

Farmers will be able to use "smart" pesticides that only damage the stomachs of destructive insects; "precision farming" that involves the use of sensors inside crops and animals may be able to indicate what is going on inside crops and the bodies of animals in order to increase yields. The benefits seem never ending when we consider that packaging could also become "smarter" by having the power to eliminate harmful bacteria on contact with the food it encases.

The huge disquiet caused by the GM sensation has made companies wary of publicising any research being done into nanotechnology. However, standing out of the crowd is Unilever – one company that is quite open about its findings and hopes for the future. Charles-François Gaudefroy, Head of Consumer Confidence and Sustainability for Research and Development expounds the virtues of nanofood: "We do not have it in food at the moment, but the potential is manifold, particularly in stabilising foods and enhancing their nutritional properties. For example, if you squeeze an orange and drink it now, you will get vitamin C from it, but if you leave it a while, all the vitamin C will vanish.

Putting the vitamin C in nanocapsules can allow it to be released only when it is drunk. And it could be useful in stabilising nutrients in food. For example, iron and essential fats such as omega-3 do not remain stable in liquids; they oxidise and that changes the colour, odour, the taste of the product ... You could use nanotechnology to stabilise the nutritional properties of products and that would be of benefit to people with deficiencies - anaemia, for example."

This is merely a glimpse of the future of food and the power that science could wield over what we eat. However, this type of dissection and tweaking of naturally occurring products appears to be totally at odds with the current fashionable trend of purchasing organic and seeking out "superfoods" that are naturally great for our health. Also the discerning public has repeatedly boycotted genetically modified crops, so how will this be any different?