In a press release published on March 30, 2020, the civil society organization Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families announced an update to their ‘Mind the Store’ campaign that reviewed and scored 50 major North American retailers on their efforts to eliminate toxic chemicals from their products.
The latest report card found that 70% of the evaluated retailers have improved over the past year. It was the first time that retailers focused their efforts on removing entire classes of chemicals from their products, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ortho-phthalates, and bisphenols from food packaging materials impacting more than 65,000 stores worldwide.
Report co-author and ‘Mind the Store’ campaign director Mike Schade stated: “We applaud retail leaders for stepping up to drive harmful chemicals out of consumer products and packaging. Despite a global pandemic and incredibly challenging year, retailers have continued to make substantial progress in reducing and eliminating classes of toxic chemicals like PFAS.”
Laurie Valeriano, Toxic-Free Future executive director commented: “The movement to ban PFAS started in Washington state and now the dominos are falling in the marketplace and other states. This is creating a perfect storm for ending the use of PFAS in food packaging.”
For more information on retailer initiatives and commitments, please also refer to the Food Packaging Forum’s brand and retailers database.
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Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (March 30, 2021). “New study finds nearly 70% of companies surveyed have improved toxic chemical safety programs.”
Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (March 30, 2021). “Who’s Minding the Store? 5th annual report card on retailer actions to eliminate toxic chemicals.”
