Demand in the European region has been significantly boosted by higher offtakes in the furniture, building, and industrial sectors compared to Q2, after a boost in containment measures. DIY activities increased significantly as people engaged in more home renovation and building tasks during the extended period of lockdown. With the restart of Chinese shipments in the latter half of Q2 2020, supply has also remained plentiful.

At the present JECFA meeting, the committee considered additional toxicological studies relevant to the safety assessment of the chemical that investigated its toxicokinetics, acute toxicity, short-term toxicity, long-term toxicity and carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, and reproductive and developmental toxicity, as well as special studies addressing its short-term initiation/promotion potential for colon cancer. The experts acknowledged that a large number of toxicological studies have been conducted using test materials, including nanoparticles, having size distributions and physico-chemical properties not comparable to real-world uses of titanium dioxide as a food additive. The studies on non-representative materials were evaluated by JECFA, but the committee concluded that such studies are not relevant to the safety assessment of the additive.