A CBC Marketplace investigation found some food manufacturers are producing snack foods for the Canadian market that contain an ingredient banned in Europe.

That additive, titanium dioxide, was banned in the European Union after a May 2021 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) review couldn’t rule out that it may cause DNA or chromosomal damage in humans.

“What we concluded was that we could not really exclude the possibility that titanium dioxide can damage the DNA material, the genetic material in the cells,” Camilla Smeraldi, team leader for EFSA’s food additive and flavourings team, told Marketplace in an interview from her office in Parma, Italy. “It’s not something that we should intentionally add to foods.”

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    4•9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    “What we concluded was that we could not really exclude the possibility that titanium dioxide can damage the DNA material, the genetic material in the cells,” Camilla Smeraldi, team leader for EFSA’s food additive and flavourings team, told Marketplace in an interview from her office in Parma, Italy.

    “Health Canada’s report on titanium dioxide as a food additive placed the greatest emphasis on the studies it considered to be the most reliable and relevant,” a spokesperson for the department told Marketplace in an emailed statement, adding that could change if new scientific evidence finds the additive is not safe.

    A consumer health watchdog says food manufacturers should proactively offer the titanium dioxide-free versions to everyone, no matter where they live.

    “I’d like them to make the choice to reformulate their products, to get rid of titanium dioxide … for the good of public health,” he said.

    Marketplace asked the manufacturers why they don’t sell titanium dioxide-free versions of these snacks in Canada like they do in Europe.

    The full Marketplace episode also explores other controversial ingredients and why they get warning labels in Europe but not in Canada.

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