Skittles lawsuit claims 'toxin' makes them 'unfit for human consumption'
A California man has sued Mars, the company that makes rainbow-hued Skittles, claiming that the use of titanium dioxide in the candy makes it “unfit for human consumption.”
The use of the additive — which is employed as a coloring agent — in foods isn’t illegal in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration permits its use in most foods, though it restricts it to 1 percent of a food’s weight. Mars contends it has done nothing wrong. “While we do not comment on pending litigation, our use of titanium dioxide complies with FDA regulations,” a Mars spokeswoman said in a statement given to The Washington Post.
But the class-action lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of San Leandro resident Jenile Thames and others who purchased the candy, argues that the company’s failure to warn consumers about the potential dangers of titanium dioxide amounts to a fraud of omission as well as other violations of California law.
SNIP
The European Commission’s ban on titanium dioxide as a food additive in the European Union goes into full effect in August. The European regulators cited fears that an accumulation of titanium dioxide particles in a person’s body could cause genotoxicity, the ability for a substance to damage DNA, potentially causing cancer. The U.K., however, did not come to the same conclusion and still permits it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/07/18/skittles-lawsuit-toxin-titanium-dioxide/
To sum up: The California filing alleges that Mars did not inform consumers about the presence of the colorant, which it describes as “unfit for human consumption.”
The filing also seeks unspecified damages.
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