Food Additive Titanium Dioxide and Its Fate in Commercial Foods.

Ji-Soo Hwang,Jin Yu,Hyoung-Mi Kim,Soo-Jin Choi,Jae-Min Oh

doi:10.3390/nano9081175

Ji-Soo Hwang, Jin Yu + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9081175

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Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is one of the most extensively utilized food additives (E171) in the food industry. Along with nanotechnology development, the concern about the presence of nanostructured particles in E171 TiO2 and commercial food products is growing. In the present study, the physicochemical properties of commercially available E171 TiO2 particles, including particle size distribution, were investigated, followed by their cytotoxicity and intestinal transport evaluation. The fate determination and quantification of E171 TiO2 in commercial foods were carried out based on the analytical procedure developed using simulated foods. The results demonstrated that TiO2 is a material mainly composed of particles larger than 100 nm, but present as an agglomerated or aggregated particle in commercial foods with amounts of less than 1% (wt/wt). Titanium dioxide particles generated reactive oxygen species and inhibited long-term colony formation, but the cytotoxicity was not related to particle size distribution or particle type (food- or general-grade). All TiO2 particles were mainly transported by microfold (M) cells, but also by intestinal tight junction. These findings will be useful for TiO2 application in the food industry and predicting its potential toxicity.

Highlights

Titanium dioxide (TiO2), naturally occurring oxide of titanium, is widely utilized as a food additive pigment in confectionary, such as chocolates, candies, bakeries, snacks, and chewing gums due to the fact of its brightening and whitening properties
The characterization of food additive TiO2 and its determination in commercial foods are of importance, which can answer the fundamental question as to whether food additive TiO2 particles consist of nano-sized materials or not
Dynamic light scattering (DLS) results demonstrated that the hydrodynamic diameters of all food additive TiO2 particles were larger than 100 nm and that the hydrodynamic radii increased in distilled water (DW) (Table 2) compared to primary particle sizes obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

Titanium dioxide (TiO2), naturally occurring oxide of titanium, is widely utilized as a food additive pigment in confectionary, such as chocolates, candies, bakeries, snacks, and chewing gums due to the fact of its brightening and whitening properties. The current specification for food additive TiO2 does not include characterization of particle size distribution. European Commission Recommendation 2011/696/EU defined a nanomaterial as a natural, incidental or manufactured material composed of more than 50% particles of 1–100 nm in the number–size distribution [8]. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Journal reported that food additive E171 primarily consists of micro-sized TiO2 particles, with a nano-sized (

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