Skittles drops additive as popular rainbow candy makes major ingredient change

A candy company has removed an ingredient from its popular and colorful rainbow candies.

Skittles, owned by Mars Wrigley, will no longer be made with titanium dioxide.

A spokesperson for Mars Wrigley, which is based in New Jersey, confirmed to Fox News Digital this week that the company has removed titanium dioxide from its Skittles portfolio in the United States.

Titanium dioxide is an additive typically used to make food look whiter and opaque.

The Make America Healthy Again Commission, chaired by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., released a report last Thursday assessing chronic diseases, particularly those suffered by children.

The report listed additives of potential concern, including titanium dioxide.

It said the additive is “widely used in a range of candies and sauces [and] may cause cellular and DNA damage.”

“Our commitment to quality is what has enabled Mars to be enjoyed by consumers for over a century, and nothing is more important than the safety of our products,” the Mars Wrigley spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

“All our products are safe to enjoy and meet the high standards and applicable regulations set by food safety authorities around the world, and that’s something we will never compromise on.”

There are 4,362 candies containing titanium dioxide, according to a search of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) FoodData Central website.

The European Union banned the additive in 2022 following a report by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which pointed to genotoxicity.

“Genotoxicity refers to the ability of a chemical substance to damage DNA, the genetic material of cells,” the EFSA report noted. 

Experimental animal inhalation studies with titanium dioxide by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found the substance to be a “possible carcinogenic to humans.”