In response to the allegations, Justin Comes, vice president of research and development at Mars Wrigley North America, told Health that safety is of paramount importance to Mars Wrigley. While we do not comment on pending litigation, all Mars Wrigley ingredients are safe and manufactured in compliance with strict quality and safety requirements established by food safety regulators, including the FDA.

In a study published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology in 2020, researchers examined the effects of food additives titanium dioxide and silica on the intestinal tract by grouping and feeding mice three different food-grade particles — micro-TiO2, nano-TiO2, and nano-SiO2.  With all three groups, researchers observed changes in the gut microbiota, particularly mucus-associated bacteria. Furthermore, all three groups experienced inflammatory damage to the intestine, but the nano-TiO2 displayed the most pronounced changes. The researchers wrote: “Our results suggest that the toxic effects on the intestine were due to reduced intestinal mucus barrier function and an increase in metabolite lipopolysaccharides which activated the expression of inflammatory factors downstream. In mice exposed to nano-TiO2, the intestinal PKC/TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway was activated. These findings will raise awareness of toxicities associated with the use of food-grade TiO2 and SiO2.”

CSPI’s Chemical Cuisine is the web’s definitive rating of the chemicals used to preserve foods and affect their taste, texture, or appearance. Besides titanium dioxide, the group recommends avoiding artificial sweeteners like aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose, as well as synthetic food dyes like Yellow 5 and Red 3. CSPI and others have recently asked the Food and Drug Administration to ban the latter dye in foods and ingested drugs because the FDA has already determined that it is a carcinogen unsafe for use in cosmetics.