European Commission Ban on Titanium Dioxide (E171) in Pet Food
2021-12-06 00:00:00
Following the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announcement on titanium dioxide (E171) no longer being considered safe as a food additive, the European Commission has now published a regulation removing E171 from animal feed.
Dating 25th of November 2021 the European Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen signed the binding regulation in Brussels denying the authorization of E171 as an additive in animal nutrition. Existing stocks of the additive need to be removed from the market by 20th of March 2022, and feed materials which have been produced with the additive shall be withdrawn from the market by 20th of June 2022. The entire regulation can be found here.
Titanium dioxide is used as a color (E171) to whiten or opacify pet food or snacks, such as baked treats or some extruded products. The demand for alternatives to titanium dioxide has grown consistently over the years, especially since the inconclusive re-evaluation opinion published by EFSA in 2016 for human food and beverages. Combined with the overall push to “naturalness”, this has inspired product renovation across many consumer packaged food companies. Often trends in pet food tend to follow human food with some delay. The elimination of E171 from petfood is now announced shortly after the ban of the additive in human food.
Replacing titanium dioxide is a highly application-specific task. Sensient has a full global suite of titanium dioxide alternatives named Avalanche™. Sensient’s Avalanche™ portfolio is designed to best match the performance of titanium dioxide, to address clean ingredient needs, and to make product renovation easy for brands. Sensient has been working on titanium dioxide alternatives for our customers in many applications for years. If you are seeking a partner to collaborate with you on finding a suitable replacement for titanium dioxide in your pet food or pet snack application, you can request a consult here.
You can read the full regulation here.
European Commission Ban on Titanium Dioxide (E171) in Pet Food