Just about every week, it seems there's a major food chain aiming to set things clear with the way their products are made, going more and more natural; last week saw McDonald's getting rid of their chicken antibiotics, and now it's the turn for Dunkin' Donuts' whitening agent.
While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that titanium dioxide isn't damaging for human consumption, different organizations have pointed out that Dunkin' Donuts whitening agent could be potentially harmful - so the company decided to change their formula to not include the component.
According to Time Magazine, the first concern about Dunkin' Donuts whitening agent came from As You Sow, when the non-profit foundation that strives for social corporate responsibility stated that titanium dioxide could be fairly toxic when it was ingested as a "nanomaterial," which would be the case of its small percentages in the breakfast chain's sugar recipe.
The non-profit published a press release on their website last week, speaking directly about Dunkin' Donuts' whitening agent, pleading them to lower the composite in their breakfast items until eliminating it.
As The Huffington Post reports, that's exactly what'll happen to the Dunkin' Donuts' whitening agent, as the company has come out to say that they'll gradually halt the use of titanium dioxide, removing it from their breakfasts' recipes: the ingredient is what makes their donuts' powdered sugar donuts as white as they are.
"This is a groundbreaking decision," said Danielle Fugere, the president of As You Sow, in a public statement. "Dunkin' has demonstrated strong industry leadership by removing this potentially harmful ingredient from its donuts. Engineered nanomaterials are beginning to enter the food supply, despite not being proven safe for consumption. Dunkin' has made a decision to protect its customers and its bottom line by avoiding use of an unproven and potentially harmful ingredient."
However, the major company was quick to point out that the Dunkin' Donuts' whitening agent didn't qualify as a "nanoparticle" in the FDA's standards, according to Food Safety News.
