Rampant Hazard Management: Dioxide Titanium in Food – Next global crisis or not?
If you are an average French “gogglenews” addict (I’m one) you haven’t been able to ignore the fact that on January 20th, INRA (French institute of agronomic research) has released the first results of a study http://presse.inra.fr/en/Resources/Press-releases/Food-additive-E171 required by ANSES (French food safety agency) https://www.anses.fr/en.
This study demonstrates that the nanoparticulate fraction of titanium dioxide (a food dying agent authorized both in EU and in the USA) crosses the intestinal barrier and that a chronic oral exposure to titanium dioxide plays a role in initiating and promoting early stages of colorectal carcinogenesis.
Of course French medias drown us with alerts (approximately 100 publications by notorious mediasin less than 48 hours).
What’s disturbing in all this is that if I just try to dig a little more my google researches, I can discover in less than 15 minutes that :
· Alerts have been raised on Nano particulate fraction of titanium dioxide in food and cosmetic products in France in the USA for more than 4 years see :
o http://www.europe1.fr/sante/jose-bove-en-guerre-contre-les-m-m-s-2402885
· French INR publication has not been relayed by foreign press (enter titanium dioxide in google and select news) .Articles are focused on the growing market of this additive and the fact that its price continues climbing
· An average consumer will discover in less than 5 minutes that E 171 (titanium dioxide) is not labelled as nanoparticle because nanoparticulate fraction is less than 50% but is always present (parents certainly will be really happy to feed their kids with so small amount of a controversial substance).
· European Food Safety agency just released a statement “EFSA’s experts concluded that available data on titanium dioxide (E 171) in food do not indicate health concerns for consumers” http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/160914
Don’t they share their research programs between various official agencies in EU?
Consumer confidence they say ???? Is the most accommodating consumer in the world not allowed to lose its temper in such circumstances?
Where is the truth ? Honestly I don't know and I'm sure none of you can answer this question ?
How to survive in such a global market when you are a food company just trying to conduct an honest business according to current regulations?
What’s the most important thing is to realize that a proper identification of all the potential hazards is key for the future of the company.
Then everyone is free to decide it’s own mitigation plan!
What is unforgivable is to be weak in the watch and identification of any potential hazard.
Keep your eyes opened! And take 5 minutes to ask yourself “Am I ready ?”
