Yesterday the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) released a long-awaited report and concluded that titanium dioxide or E171 is no longer safe to be used as an additive in food.
This white powder which is used in chewing gum, sweets, baking powder and also present in toothpaste, creams, paint and medication has finally been declared as genotoxic which means that it can damage DNA and be a pre-cursor to cancer. More tests will take place.
The European Commission announced yesterday that it will take measures to ban E171 from foods
This is good news - however all the time that this additive has been examined by EFSA, it has remained on the market and in our food. It has been more than two years since France announced a ban
In the EU we should be working on the principle of precaution. If there is scientific doubt about the safety of a product for health, it should be removed from the market until its safety can be proven.
This sadly does not happen. Additives and products such as pesticides remain on and in our food for many years before the danger is acted upon.
E171 is only one additive out of many that is dangerous to human health - many others remain in our food.
The so-called ‘Southhampton Six’ food colours Tartrazine (E102), Quinoline Yellow (E104), Sunset Yellow (E110), Carmoisine (E122), Ponceau 4R (E124) and Allura Red (E129) are linked to hyper-activity in children and yet they remain in many of the foods that children are given.
Sadly our system of food safety in Europe does not work as well as we like to think it does. The food industry is a powerful lobby.
Yesterday’s announcement is a step in the right direction but there are still hundreds of food additives that are permitted and many with dubious reputations.
Personally I like to know what the ingredients in my food look like and read the labels carefully - if there is an ingredient that I would not keep in my own kitchen cupboard, I usually think I can do without it.
However we all get caught out.
Recently I needed to take a course of iron supplements - the tablets I was prescribed contained E171.
More shockingly, I recently bought a sun-protection cream from my kids from the brand Weleda that I usually trust. When I got it home I read that one of the main ingredients was Titanium Dioxide - of course they did not write it as E171! From a company that brands its products as ‘Skin Food’ this was really disappointing.
The laws need to be changed to protect everyone - not only the consumer who knows about these things. Our lawmakers need to step up to their responsibility and force the industry to take out chemicals in our food, packaging and food production that are in doubt of their safety our health until that safety can be scientifically proven.