Today the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations laid out the State of Food Insecurity in the World with a press conference in Rome, and the news wasn't good.

"Far from decreasing, the number of hungry people in the world is currently increasing - at the rate of four million a year," FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf told the audience. "Despite the progress achieved in agriculture and rural development," he said, "more than 850 million people still remain hungry."

Can nanotechnology play a role in reducing hunger? If it can, one of the many hurdles to be overcome will be consumer fear of "frankenfood", akin to what we have seen regarding genetically modified organisms (GMOs). These fears have not subsided, as the alarm over the Food and Drug Administration's decision to allow milk and meat from cloned animals onto the market clearly shows.

I encourage you to visit Richard Jones' piece at softmachines on nanotechnology and the food industry to catch up on recent developments, and there are many. On the hunger front, a webcast of the FAO press conference is also available. (photo FAO)