Titanium dioxide has many purposes in both food and product development.

Wegman’s puts titanium dioxide in its Original Macaroni and Cheese. Campbell’s Healthy Request Chunky Chicken Corn Chowder has it, as does Food Club’s Chunky New England Clam Chowder. Marzetti uses the color agent to brighten its Cream Cheese Fruit Dip. Dairy products usually don’t need titanium dioxide to look white, but Kroger has decided to add titanium dioxide to its Fat Free Half-and-Half. And titanium dioxide isn’t only in especially white or brightly colored foods: Little Debbie adds it to Fudge Rounds and many other products. According to the Food Scores database maintained by Environmental Working Group, more than 1,800 brand-name food products have titanium dioxide on their ingredients list. That said, it can still lurk as an unspecified “artificial color,” or labels might simply say “color added.”

Currently, the development of TiO₂ memristors is associated with their use in modern highly technological applications, such as resistive random-access memory (RRAM), biohybrid systems, and sensors, as schematically shown in Figure 1A. In this mini-review, we briefly outline and summarize the key milestone achievements, as well as recent advances in the synthesis, fabrication, and application of TiO₂-based memristors. A special focus is placed on the relationships between the synthesis and deposition methods, the effects of post-synthesis treatment, and the resistive switching properties.

It adds a bright white color to coffee creamers, baked goods, chewing gums, hard-shell candies, puddings, frostings, dressings, and sauces. But the nanoparticles found in “food-grade” titanium dioxide may accumulate in the body and cause DNA damage—which is one way chemicals cause cancer and other health problems. 

As for titanium dioxide, the FDA approved titanium dioxide for use as a food additive in 1966. The last time the agency reviewed the additive’s safety, according to the Guardian, was in 1973.

3. Solubility: insoluble in water.