Titanium dioxide can boost and brighten colors because of how well it absorbs and also scatters light. In food and drugs, this additive is known as E171 and helps define colors clearly and can prevent degradation (cracking and breakdown of materials) from exposure to sunlight.
Food safety experts in the European Union (EU) have recently updated their safety assessment of TiO2 as a food additive. In Europe, TiO2 is referred to as E171, in accordance with European labelling requirements for food additives. The EU expert panel took into account toxicity studies of TiO2 nanoparticles, which to this point had not been considered relevant to the safety assessment of TiO2 as a food additive.