In the United States, a group of citizens has formed to sue the Mars group, the agrifood giant that designs the famous Skittles candies. The plaintiffs, who according to an article of the Washington Postfiled an appeal in court on July 14, believe that these sweets would be “unfit for human consumption”.
The collective criticizes the Mars group for using titanium dioxide to make its colored sweets. A fact that the company does not deny, according to which its “use of titanium dioxide complies with FDA regulations”, as it recently affirmed through the voice of its spokesperson.
An additive banned in food in France since 2018
The powerful American public agency Food and Drug Administration (FDA) effectively authorizes the use of this additive (E171) used as a coloring provided that its quantity does not exceed 1% of the total weight of a food. But the collective of citizens does not budge. He accuses the food giant of not having “warned consumers of the potential dangers of titanium dioxide”, which he says “constitutes a fraud by omission”.
If titanium dioxide is still authorized in the United States, it will however be prohibited in the production of food from August 2022 within the European Union. In France, this additive has already been banned since 2018 in food.