On November 18, 2021, Maggie Hassan, Debbie Dingel, and Don Young introduced the Keep Food Containers Safe from PFAS Act into the US House of Representatives and Senate. As reported by Environmental Working Group (EWG), the act would amend the current US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to not allow “the introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of food packaging containing intentionally added PFAS [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances].” If passed in both chambers it would ban the sale of any food packaging containing PFAS beginning on January 1, 2024.
The bill is the latest attempt from US lawmakers to implement a nation-wide regulation addressing the intentional use of PFAS in food packaging, and it is the second time Dingel has proposed a PFAS-related bill under this name (FPF reported). Another bill from Bernie Sanders was also introduced in 2020 that aimed to address PFAS in food packaging, as well as other exposure sources such as firefighting foams (FPF reported).
“Food is likely a significant source of exposure to these dangerous chemicals for millions of Americans,” said EWG senior scientist David Andrews. “PFAS in the environment can contaminate crops and accumulate in fish and meat, but they also leach into food from food packaging. The Keep Food Containers Safe from PFAS Act would quickly cut off a potential major and completely avoidable source of exposure to these forever chemicals.”
Reference
Maggie Hassan (November 2021). “Keep Food Containers Safe from PFAS Act.” (pdf)
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Safer Chemicals Healthy Families (November 18, 2021). “Bipartisan bill to ban PFAS chemicals in food containers introduced in Congress today.”
EWG (November 18, 2021). “Bill to ban ‘forever chemicals’ from food packaging would eliminate major source of exposure.”
National Resources Defense Council (December 2021). “To protect human health, PFAS must be managed as a class.” (pdf)
