The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says that grease-proofing materials containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are no longer being sold for use in food packaging in the U.S.
This will eliminate the major source of dietary exposure to PFAS from food packaging like fast-food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, take-out paperboard containers and pet food bags.
PFAS are a diverse group of thousands of chemicals that resist grease, oil, water and heat. The FDA has authorized certain PFAS for limited use in cookware, food packaging and food processing equipment.
This class of manmade chemicals is part of what makes these consumer goods water-, stain-, and grease-resistant but PFAS are also toxic at extremely low levels, posing significant risks to our health.
They’re called “forever chemicals,” because they are nearly indestructible, according to Erik D. Olson, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, who says PFAS are dangerous for three crucial reasons.
“First, the structure of PFAS means they resist breakdown in the environment and in our bodies,” said Olson. “Second, they move relatively quickly through the environment, making their contamination hard to contain. Third, for some PFAS, even extremely low levels of exposure can negatively impact our health.”
Exposure to some types of these so-called ‘forever chemicals’ has been linked to serious health effects.
The FDA helps to safeguard the food supply by evaluating the use of chemicals as food ingredients and substances that come into contact with food, such as through food packaging, storage or other handling to ensure these uses are safe.
This announcement marks the fulfillment of a voluntary commitment by manufacturers to not sell food contact substances containing certain PFAS intended for use as grease-proofing agents in the U.S.
This FDA-led effort represents a positive step forward as we continue to reevaluate chemicals authorized for use with, and in, food. It underscores an important milestone in the protection of U.S. consumers from potentially harmful food-contact chemicals.
This ‘win’ for public health is the result of FDA research and leadership, combined with cooperation from industry. In 2020, the FDA engaged companies to cease sales of grease-proofing substances that contain certain types of PFAS following our post-market safety assessment.
The research FDA scientists conducted and published played a large part in helping the agency obtain commitments from manufacturers to voluntarily phase out the use of these substances containing PFAS in paper and paperboard food packaging products.
Assessing the progress of these efforts takes time. Various parts of the industry are implementing changes and there are lags in data reporting. However, officials say they are encouraged that through collaboration and a shared interest in the health and welfare of the public, together with industry we can achieve positive health outcomes.
The FDA will continue to conduct research and update our evaluations using the most up-to-date science to ensure that our risk determinations continue to be accurate and based on current science.
Where appropriate, officials pledged to take the steps necessary to protect the health of U.S. consumers as part of the government’s commitment to food chemical safety.
In addition to the critical FDA decision to ban those PFAS chemicals from food packaging, there has been promising local legislative action.
Multiple states, including New Hampshire and New Jersey, established tap water standards for certain PFAS. California and New York also joined other states in banning PFAS from plant-based food packaging and in firefighting foam and textiles.
In the private sector, companies like Home Depot and Lowe’s have chosen to eliminate PFAS in their carpets and rugs, and a wave of clothing brands, including Patagonia, are making public commitments to remove PFAS from their entire supply chains, signaling the potential for new market norms to take hold.
The Biden administration has also taken promising, but not yet sufficient, steps to begin tackling PFAS contamination.
In 2021, the EPA released its PFAS Strategic Roadmap, which laid out the agency’s intentions to increase research into health impacts and put more pressure on PFAS manufacturers to limit pollution.
The agency also proposed setting limits on the amounts of six PFAS chemicals in drinking water but Biden’s response still fails to meet the scale of the crisis with more comprehensive monitoring, definitive regulations, or wide-scale cleanup efforts.
The reality is, that Americans need to take action on the full class of these toxic “forever chemicals” to clean them up, phase them out, and then ban them for good.