**5. Conclusions**

Our findings contribute to the potential application of LDH composites as an alternative white food pigment. Mg-Al LDH was synthesized using the hydrothermal method. Masking power and suspension stability of the pristine LDH were substantially improved when casein was intercalated, followed by surface coating with CMC to form CCLDH. Casein antigenicity was also found to be suppressed when intercalated between the brucite layers. The ever-increasing demand for TiO2 alternatives as white pigment for food and pharmaceutical applications occurs under the constrains of today's consumer choices on products that are not only delicious and visually appealing but also safe and better for human and environmental health. In this regard, results from the current study sugges<sup>t</sup> promising applications of LDH composite as a white pigment for food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic products. Nonetheless, the compatibility of LDH composites with common food ingredients and elaborate safety assessment using animal models remain to be explored.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https: //www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods11081120/s1, Figure S1: TEM image of E171 used in the study alongside SEM images from our previous studies as a representative sample; Figure S2: Size distribution analysis of the synthesized particles; Table S1: Cost analysis of CCLDH synthesized in this study; Table S2: No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) of tested materials in this study; Table S3: Raw data for MATLAB® generation derived from experimental results based on the scoring system. Refs. [49–52] are cited in the Supplementary Materials.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, S.G.; methodology, E.N.; investigation, E.N., Z.L., W.H.P., S.G.; data curation, E.N., S.G.; writing—original draft preparation, E.N.; writing—review and editing, W.H.P., Z.L., S.G.; supervision, S.G. project administration, S.G.; funding acquisition, S.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by Canada Research Chair/George, gran<sup>t</sup> number 248475.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Acknowledgments:** We acknowledge funding from CRC/George/X-coded/248475 for supporting this research work.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.
