6838cb8e6181082dc8ab2f9d Skittlesadobestock 293965608 Editorial Use Only

Skittles: No Titanium Dioxide, but Still a Petroleum-Based Rainbow

May 29, 2025

Mars just revealed it removed the questionable ingredient at the end of last year, although petroleum-based colorants still remain.

Dave Fusaro

Do Skittles seem a little less shiny this year? Can you still taste the rainbow?

If you haven’t noticed, Mars Inc. removed at least one controversial ingredient often included in the synthetic colorant debate – titanium dioxide – from the colorful candy, although a handful of synthetic dyes remain.

Titanium dioxide was removed from all Skittles production at the end of last year, the company told Bloomberg News. It apparently was used to brighten the colors and make the candy appear shiny.

But other synthetic color additives targeted by FDA for a voluntary phaseout – or specified for outright ban in some states – remain: Blue 1 & 2, Red 40 and Yellow 5 & 6.

Titanium dioxide was banned in the European Union in 2022 over concerns that nanoparticles of the substance might accumulate in the body and damage DNA, according to Bloomberg. Here in the U.S., TiO2 has been included in some upcoming state bans, was removed at the last minute from others and has been in the crosshairs of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy.

The ingredient was mentioned as a danger in the May 22 MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Report and was among the hit-list in a May 15 FDA announcement that the agency was creating its first post-market review for food chemicals.

A citizens petition asking titanium dioxide’s removal from the food supply was filed in 2023 and remains under review by the FDA.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.