21 May 2019 /United States

Representative Debbie Dingell (D-Michigan) has introduced a bill in the US House of Representatives to ban per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in food packaging.

The "Keep Food Containers Safe from PFAS Act of 2019" (HR 2827), introduced on 17 May, would amend the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to "deem any [PFAS] used as a food contact substance to be unsafe and therefore treated as adulterated".

If passed into law, the legislation would direct the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban the substance’s use from 2022 in any item that comes into contact with food, including packaging, cookware and food processing equipment.

The bill joins more than a dozen separate pieces of legislation to address PFASs currently under consideration in the House. The Senate, meanwhile, is set to hold a hearing on 22 May addressing six other bills related to the class of substances.