Food manufacturers face legal complaint over undeclared nanoparticles

French consumer group UFC-Que Choisir has filed a legal complaint to the Paris High Court regarding undeclared nanoparticles in certain products from Mars, Casino, McCormick, and Jacobs Douwe Egberts.

French law requires food manufacturers to write ‘NANO’ in the ingredients list of products that contain nanoparticles, and of twenty consumer products tested—including food products, cosmetics, and drugs—Que Choisir found illegal labelling practices from nine manufacturers in total.

Reportedly McCormick’s Ducros Italian spice mixes, Douwe Egbert’s Maxwell House instant cappuccino, and Casino’s dehydrated chicken soup contained silicon dioxide (E551) that was completely undeclared. Meanwhile, 34% of the titanium dioxide (E171) in Mars’ peanut M&Ms was nano-sized and therefore undeclared.

“The smaller the particles, the greater their relative surface area…When they go from a normal size to a nano-metric size the particles change identity. Their behaviour and properties are no longer the same. Aluminium for example, which is normally inert, becomes explosive,” said Que Choisir in a video. “These unpredictable a priori changes make it more difficult to evaluate the risks. ​Due to the lack of traceability and labelling, we don’t know to what extent we are exposed to these nanoparticles.”

In 2017, the National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA) presented its findings on the impact of titanium dioxide on animal intestinal systems. The study found that healthy rats given 10mg/kg of body weight–the same exposure that humans receive on average–were more susceptible to developing intestinal issues. Four of 11 rats in this group developed problems compared to none in the control group.

“These results indicate that E171 both initiates and promotes the early stages of colorectal carcinogenesis in animals. These studies show for the first time that the additive E171 is a source of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in the intestine and the entire body, with consequences for both immune function and the development of preneoplastic lesions in the colon,” said the INRA.

EU law defines ‘engineered nanomaterial’ as any intentionally produced materials of nano size.

On the basis of a study conducted by the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks, the European Commission concluded: “Even though nanomaterials are not per se dangerous, there still is scientific uncertainty about the safety of nanomaterials in many aspects and therefore the safety assessment of the substances must be done on a case-by-case basis.”

French Minister of the Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire said that the manufacturers ‘insufficiently respected’ France’s food labelling rules.

Manufacturers’ response

Regarding the legal complaint, a McCormick spokesperson said that the silicon dioxide used in its Italian spice mix does not contain “intentionally produced nanomaterials” and was not subject to EU law as defined above.

“We do not use anything in this product with the functional properties of nanoparticles,” said McCormick.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Mars tells Food Processing Technology: “First of all, we would like to highlight that all our products comply with our own strict internal requirements and respect all applicable laws and regulations. With that being said, we want to give full satisfaction to our consumers and have taken into account their changing preferences in favour of more natural ingredients.

“That is why, in 2016, we took the commitment to remove progressively all artificial colours including TiO2 from all our food products. In the context of this plan, transitioning out of titanium dioxide is our priority, and we are currently conducting extensive work on how best to achieve this whilst ensuring same high quality of our products.”