CA Bill to Ban Titanium Dioxide and Other Ingredients in Food Passes Health Committee

California Assembly Bill 418 passed the Assembly Committee on Health by a vote of 12 to 1 on April 11, 2023, and was re-referred to the Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials. AB 418 would ban the manufacture, sale, and distribution of any food product that contains titanium dioxide, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, or red dye #3. The bill was introduced on February 2, 2023, and referred to the Committees on Health and Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials on February 17, 2023.

On March 22, 2023, the American Chemistry Council’s Titanium Dioxide Stewardship Council (TDSC) issued a statement opposing California AB 418. In the statement, TDSC said that the bill “politicizes food additive safety determinations and undermine thorough processes that rely on on-going assessment of adverse event reports, peer-reviewed scientific research, and careful consideration of risk based on actual or reasonably anticipated dietary exposures.”