You may be taking a second look at your favorite candy after hearing this week's news about titanium dioxide. Recently, a lawsuit was filed against Mars, Inc. based on claims that the manufacturer's popular Skittles candy is unfit for human consumption. The class-action lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in mid-July, alleged that the candy contained heightened levels of a known toxin called titanium dioxide — a food additive that the company previously pledged to phase out from their products in 2016, according to the Center for Food Safety.

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A 2022 review on past studies of titanium dioxide and rat lung cancer, for instance, said the original study was under extreme conditions and its effects were not replicated in other animal species. Additionally, the review concluded that the few studies which did directly focus on titanium dioxide's impact on humans did not end up showing any increased cancer risk.