A new and simple method was developed to produce gelatin nanoparticles of similar to 30-40 nm for use as carriers for drug release applications. The nanoparticles were uniform in size and well dispersed. An anticancer drug, 5-fluorouracil, was encapsulated with an efficiency as high as 85%. The nanoparticles showed sustained release of 5-fluorouracil, and release rates varied with amount of crosslinking in the nanoparticles. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 121: 3495-3500, 2011