Despite growing concern, the full health impact of PFAS in our food remains unclear. Yet around the world, regulators are taking decisive steps to limit their use in food contact materials.

In the United States, several states have already banned PFAS in food packaging,² and in February 2024, the FDA announced that PFAS-based grease-proofing agents are no longer being sold for food contact paper products in the U.S.³

Europe is also moving swiftly. From August 2026, the EU is expected to prohibit PFAS in food packaging above specific thresholds.² Meanwhile, the European Chemicals Agency is reviewing a sweeping proposal to restrict the use of approximately 10,000 PFAS substances.⁴ A final decision is expected by the end of 2026—one that could reshape the food and beverage industry across the continent.⁴

In Asia, PFAS regulations related to food contact materials are still yet to emerge. However, Singapore’s recently enacted Food Safety and Security Bill lays the legal foundation for future bans and stricter regulation of food contact materials.^{5, 6}

As global PFAS regulations continue to evolve, labs in the food and beverage industry can stay ahead by ensuring they are well informed of the PFAS regulatory landscape and equipped to adapt. Ongoing monitoring and research play a key role in supporting safer practices and minimizing PFAS exposure from all sources.

At McGill University in Canada, Agilent Thought Leader Award recipient Dr. Stéphane Bayen (pictured on the left) is advancing research on PFAS testing in food contact materials.

“In our lab, we’re investigating the behavior of PFAS—how they occur in food contact materials and their potential migration into various types of food—using food simulant models,” explains Dr. Bayen.

He adds, “Detecting environmental contaminants like PFAS at trace levels in food-related matrices—parts per million and parts per billion—is critical to our work. We rely on a combination of targeted and nontargeted analytical methods, using Agilent TQ LC/MS and LC Q-TOF MS systems, to achieve the low limits of detection required for our analysis.”