Ready-made hummus free of titanium dioxide — JFDA

AMMAN — The Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA) on Monday said that ready-made hummus products are completely free of titanium dioxide, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. Between 2014 and 2017, the JFDA has been taking samples of hummus from different restaurants concluding that all these products were free of titanium dioxide, which can be used to give food a white colour, Petra said.

The Codex Alimentarius (food code) of international food standards and the American Centres for Disease Control and Prevention consider titanium dioxide a safe substance, with no evidence of it being carcinogenic, Petra added.

However, the JFDA banned the use of the substance in hummus, tahina and sweet tahina products, because it changes the original qualities of the products and makes them whiter, as well as there being no technical or manufacturing reasons to add it, the news agency said.