The S.F.D.A clarified that the titanium dioxide which is added to halawa tahinia (a kind of sweet contains milled sesame and sugar ……….) is one of the permitted food additives that is used particularly in some kinds of foods and in sweets as a coloring substance. Nothing insures that it causes harm for health or it leads to cancer
if it is used as an additive.
The S.F.D.A vice chairman of food affairs d. Ibraheem bin Saad Almuhaize commented on what has been stated by media about the safety of halawa tahinia which contains dioxide titanium that the S.F.D.A immediately collected the available information and facts from researching centers, specialized scientific authorities, related international authorities and world controlling associations such as: the Common Experts Committee of Additives that is arisen from the World Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, Food Climax Committee, the European Food Safety Authority, the American Food and Drug Authority, the International Agency of Cancer Researches and the Gulf Standard Specifications to ascertain the fact, and it was revealed that this substance is not harmful for health. However, there is a valid gulf specification item prohibits adding any colored substance to halawa tahinia including the dioxide titanium, so the existence of this additive considered a breach of this obligatory item.