The French Minister of Health announced on May 18 that France will prohibit the use of TiO2 (titanium dioxide, also known as E171) by of end of this year.
E171 (titanium dioxide) is commonly used as a pigment in food products, to bring a bright and smooth white appearance to pastries, confectionery products, yogurt and ice cream. It is also frequently used in chewing gums. The material is only used for giving products a more aesthetic appearance. Titanium dioxide does not have any nutritional value. Titanium dioxide is considered, strictly speaking, not a nanomaterial but does contain up to 3.2% nanoparticles.
According to the press release, a study by INRA showed that ingestion of titanium dioxide caused cellular inflammation, which is a potential precursor of cancer. Based on this study, France asked the European Commission to suspend the use of titanium dioxide and re-evaluate the impact of the material. EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, had already re-evaluated titanium dioxide in 2016 and, in May of this year, has again been asked by the European Commission to re-evaluate its opinion after new studies on TiO2 had been published. EFSA is expected to give an updated opinion in the summer of this year (2018).
It appears that the French Minister of Health is arguing that the health effects of TiO2 as nanomaterial have not been assessed. Independent of the EFSA opinion, France will implement national measures to prohibit the use of titanium dioxide in food products by end of this year and several producers have, according to the aforementioned press release, already agreed to omit titanium dioxide voluntarily from their products. The list includes major supermarkets like Carrefour, E.Leclerc, Super U, Picard, as well as producers like Carambar, Verquin, Lutti and William Saurin.
Will that make French consumers safer than the other, still 27, member states? It remains to be seen since no long-term studies exist. Is there equivalency between the effects seen in rat studies and the potential effects of titanium dioxide in human?.
