Mars is being sued over its use of an artificial color in Skittles hard candy, years after claiming it would be phased out.
The lawsuit by a California consumer charges that Skittles are “unfit for human consumption” due to titanium dioxide, a colorant that was banned by the European Union last year. The plaintiff, a San Leandro man, is seeking to have the lawsuit attain class-action status.
The lawsuit claims that Mars promised to phase out titanium dioxide in 2016 but that it “blew smoke” with that pledge. It says that Skittles consumers “are at heightened risk of a host of health effects for which they were unaware stemming from genotoxicity – the ability of a chemical substance to change DNA.”
Mars declined to comment to news organizations, saying it doesn’t discuss pending litigation.
