The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) has published the concluding report of its 97th meeting, including a focus on the safety of titanium dioxide (INS 171) when used as a food additive. based on the very low oral absorption rate of titanium dioxide in available laboratory animal and human studies, and the absence of any identifiable hazards associated with it in the diet, the Committee notes that no epidemiological studies are available to draw conclusions about the association between dietary intake of titanium dioxide and human health effects. Therefore, the meeting reiterated what was determined at the 13th meeting: "not specified" ADI values for titanium dioxide.

In the food industry, titanium dioxide is widely used as a colorant in food processing. It is insoluble in water, hydrochloric acid, dilute sulfuric acid and organic solvents, and can be slowly dissolved in hydrofluoric acid. As one of the few white color food colorants, it can increase the gloss and whiteness of food, enhance the sense of the product, is widely used in candy chocolate, pastry, food supplements, baking decorations and other products, especially candy coating, chocolate coating and other products, titanium dioxide has been the first choice for color.

However, the safety of titanium dioxide is controversial, and mainstream countries have inconsistent regulations on titanium dioxide as a food additive. The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) lists titanium dioxide as a food additive in the GMP list, and all foods except those listed in the appendix to Table 3 May be used in accordance with GMP. China, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Japan and other countries/regions approved titanium dioxide as a food additive for food.

In addition, the United States lists titanium dioxide as a color exempt from certification, and the use of a uniform limit of 1% in all types of food. But in May of this year, when the FDA solicited comments on a request to ban the use of titanium dioxide in food as a colorant, it announced that it had submitted a colorant petition submitted by the Environmental Defense Fund, among others, proposing to repeal the colorant regulations for the use of titanium dioxide in food. At present, the United States has not banned the use of titanium dioxide as a food additive. In July 2022, a classic candy of a brand was sued by American consumers, claiming that the titanium dioxide content in the candy was too high, which may cause changes in human DNA and can also cause damage to organs such as the brain.

On the other hand, the European Commission has issued a revised Regulation (EU) 2022/63 in 2022, banning the use of titanium dioxide as a food additive throughout the EU, and banning the placing on the market of foods containing titanium dioxide after 7 August 2022. According to the EU Rapid Warning System for food and feed (RASFF) news, in 2023, many batches of food exported to the EU were notified of unqualified because of titanium dioxide detection, including three batches of food in China, which are a batch of mooncakes and two batches of candy.

Although most countries/regions, including China, have not yet banned titanium dioxide provisions, but with the increasing attention to food safety in various countries, as well as the in-depth risk assessment research, it is difficult to guess whether titanium dioxide can continue to be used as a food additive in the future, and it is not ruled out that there will be more countries/regions to ban titanium dioxide. Foodmate reminds relevant enterprises should pay attention to the regulatory dynamics, find new alternative products to avoid export risks, thereby reducing the impact of the revised regulations on products.