The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that companies are voluntarily phasing out the use of “forever chemicals” in food packaging, including fast-food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags and takeout containers that are grease-, oil- and water-resistant.
The “major source of dietary exposure to PFAS from food packaging … is being eliminated,” Jim Jones, deputy commissioner for human foods, said in a news release.
Companies told the FDA it could take 18 months to “exhaust the market supply from the last date of sale” of these products, though it is unclear when that would be.
Forever chemicals, or PFAS, are man-made compounds that can potentially accumulate in the body over time and take years to break down in nature. Certain PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have been implicated in a number of serious health effects, including some cancers, high blood pressure, disruption of the endocrine system and changes in liver function.
The FDA’s announcement “is a huge win for the public,” said Graham Peaslee, a physics professor at the University of Notre Dame who frequently tests for PFAS in everyday products.
“Nobody reads the wrapper of their hamburger to see if it has PFAS or not,” Peaslee said Wednesday. “It’s going to be a huge win that we don’t have to worry about where it ends up.”
Until the food packaging that contains forever chemicals are completely out of the market, here are steps you can take to minimize exposure from the foods you eat, PFAS experts said.
