European civil society groups urge EU Commissioner to ban E171 in food

06 December 2019

On 5 Dec 2019, European civil society groups have sent a joint letter to Ms. Stella Kyriakides – European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety on the issue of the white colourant E171 (titanium dioxide in food).

With this letter, SAFE together with 7 other NGOs strongly urge Ms. Stella Kyriakides, in her lead role of Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, and the Commission to uphold the precautionary principle by supporting the French ban on E171 in food products as well as its future extension to the rest of Europe.

E171 serves no nutritional purpose or function other than changing the appearance of food put on the market. Further more, it is mainly used in food products which are particularly popular with children, such as cakes, desserts, ice cream, biscuits, chocolate bars, bakery and pastry products, etc., which raises concerns on the potential high exposure of this vulnerable population.

Over 84,000 citizens across Europe who have already signed a petition to support the French ban concerning the health risks E171 presents.

Read the full letter here