Croatia Once Again Returns Food from Serbia – Titanium Dioxide, Banned in EU Due to Potential Genotoxicity, Found in Cookies

The EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) has announced that, at the beginning of the month, a shipment of cookies from Serbia intended for the Croatian market was returned. The website says that, on November 2, due to titanium dioxide (E171), the cookies were returned to the sender due to the potential risk to people’s health.

Let us remind that, in January 2022, the European Food Safety Authority adopted the regulation banning the use of this additive in food. Titanium dioxide is a natural oxide of titanium which has a very wide application, among other things, as an ingredient in paints, sun creams, or food coloring.

As a food additive, it carries the E171 tag, and the European Food Safety Authority said that there were reasonable suspicions that the additive caused genotoxicity. That means that the intake of titanium dioxide can lead to alterations in the genes, that is, the human genome, which would cause various diseases, even cancer.

In addition to that, in 2017, French scientists proved that a regular oral intake of the E171 additive leads to a weakening of the immune system and bowel inflammation in rats. Research shows that the substance penetrates the bowel membrane and gets into the bloodstream in the form of nanoparticles.

European Union

Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed

RASFF

European Food Safety Authority

cookies

market

titanium oxide

additives

sun creams

food coloring

genotoxicity

cancer

immune system