EFSA’s food additives panel concluded that E171 can no longer be considered safe as a food additive, because a concern for genotoxicity could not be ruled out and no tolerable daily intake could be set. The opinion concerns ingestion of the food additive. It is the trigger for the 2024 SCCS review of titanium dioxide in cosmetics.
Key numbers
Adopted 25 March 2021; 130 pages. A search of the full text found no lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium or antimony concentration or impurity limit for E171.
Methods (brief)
Panel review of the literature on absorption, distribution, genotoxicity and toxicity, including nanoparticle fractions. Correspondence: fip@efsa.europa.eu.
Evidence fitness
Context for the titanium dioxide hazard debate. It says nothing directly about skin application or about impurity metals in sunscreen-grade titanium dioxide.
Limitations
Oral route only. The earlier EFSA 2016 re-evaluation, which contains E171 impurity data, was not obtained.
Related evidence
- Scientific Advice on Titanium dioxide (TiO2) (CAS/EC numbers 13463-67-7/236-675-5, 1317-70-0/215-280-1, 1317-80-2/215-282-2) (SCCS/1661/23)
- Titanium
Update history
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