Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often labelled as “forever chemicals”, refer to a group of over 4000 chemicals that are highly valued for their ability to resist heat, water, and oil.[1] This makes them ideal for use in a wide range of products, including food packaging, where they are employed to prevent moisture and grease from seeping through. Despite these advantages, their persistence in the environment and associated health concerns have led to global efforts to regulate their use, which could extend to products that come into direct contact with food, such as food packaging.
In recent years, the Australian government has intensified efforts to mitigate the environmental and health risks posed by PFAS and other harmful industrial chemicals. The listing of certain PFAS on the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Instrument 2022 (ICHEM Register) signifies a potential shift towards legally banning PFAS in food packaging by 2025.
For food manufacturers, staying ahead of these developments is critical to ensuring compliance and consumer safety.
Regulating PFAS
There is very little prescribed regulation of packaging within food legislation. In fact, the very standard that regulated food contact materials (Standard 1.4.3 – Articles and Materials in Contact with Food) was removed from the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (Food Standards Code) in 2016 and replaced with a broad obligation that any packaging not be “likely to cause bodily harm, distress or discomfort … if taken into the mouth”. Beyond other broad obligations in food and consumer protection legislation for products to be safe, there is little prescribed regulation of chemical migration from packaging.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), the government agency responsible for setting standards within the Food Standards Code, has little further commentary on its website beyond a survey of chemical migrations from food packaging as part of the 27th Australian Total Diet Study published in 2021. This study found that “levels of PFAS in the general Australian food supply are very low”. Separately FSANZ also reviewed studies concerning the potential impact of PFAS on the human immune system and found that: “although some statistical associations were found, there is a lack of consistent evidence that PFAS at levels of environmental exposure are harmful to the human immune system”.
The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) is actively working toward the gradual phase out of added PFAS from fibre-based food packaging. The APCO action plan acknowledges the difficulty in regulating unintentionally present PFAS which could be present in recycled packaging from soil, feedstock, water or processing aids.
The challenge remains that completely removing PFAS from all recycled packaging is highly unlikely, due to the extreme persistence of these chemicals in the environment. While new industry standards seek to reduce PFAS levels in packaging, their complete eradication from recycled materials might take much longer, perhaps even millennia.
There is also a big difference between a gradual phase-out action plan and legislative prohibition.
What is the ICHEM Register?
Any regulatory uncertainty in relation to added or unintentionally present PFAS is compounded by the creation of the ICHEM Register.
The ICHEM Register is a Federal legislative instrument which simply classifies industrial chemicals into different schedules, based on the threat posed by these chemicals to the environment. Of particular relevance is Schedule 7, titled “Relevant industrial chemicals that are likely to cause serious or irreversible harm to the environment with no essential uses”.
As of 1 July 2025, the following chemicals will be listed in Schedule 7:
- Perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS).
- Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS).
- Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
The entries for all three of the above chemicals prohibits the import, export or manufacture of these chemicals (whether on their own or in mixtures or in articles) and the “use” of the chemicals other than when present “as unintentional trace contamination” (with prescribed levels set and to be reviewed by 1 July 2027).
Does the prohibition apply to food packaging?
While the legislative regime which gave rise to the ICHEM Register (namely, the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Act 2021 (ICHEM Act)) is quite separate to the broader regulation of industrial chemicals via the Industrial Chemicals Act 2019 (Industrial Chemicals Act), there are some definitions under the ICHEM Act which link back to the Industrial Chemicals Act.
Importantly, this includes the definition of “end use”.
In the Industrial Chemicals Act, the terms end use and industrial use exclude regulation of agricultural and veterinary chemicals, therapeutic goods, vaping good, animal feed and food for human consumption. However, they do not expressly exclude packaging for food.
Thus, it is possible that – as of 1 July 2025 – the abovementioned chemicals may have no levels set in food… but may be prohibited in food packaging beyond levels set for unintentional contamination.
Who enforces the prohibition?
Despite the “prohibition” called for in the Schedule 7 entries, enforcement of the ICHEM Register may not necessarily be consistently applied. This is because (and as is also the case with the Food Standards Code and the Poisons Standard), the ICHEM Register is set Federally, but enforcement is left predominantly to the States and Territories. The specific penalties associated with non-compliance under the ICHEM Register are not detailed and enforcement and applicability of these restrictions may therefore vary by State or Territory.
It is not clear who, how or even whether food packaging in particular may be tested for the presence of PFAS. This is especially interesting given that the majority of food packaging is manufactured overseas and imported into Australia.
Given that the purpose behind the ICHEM Register is environmental management (and not human health and safety via food consumption), most of the implementation and enforcement of the ICHEM Register at a State and Territory level appears to be through Environmental Protection Agencies and not food law enforcement agencies.
Until there are specific food standards set or food regulators at a Federal, State and Territory level begin to test and enforce the ICHEM Register, it is hard to see how a potential ban on PFAS in food packaging will exist in practice.
Conclusion
Whilst the ICHEM Register allows for certain chemicals to be prohibited or restricted, it leaves room for interpretation and enforcement by individual States and Territories, which can regulate these chemicals according to each jurisdiction’s specific needs and priorities.
Food manufacturers will need to stay vigilant as the situation develops, especially as the 2025 deadline approaches. Now is the time for food packaging manufacturers to:
- assess their materials
- collaborate with suppliers to ensure compliance, and
- prepare for stricter environmental and health standards in the packaging industry.
If you need any advice on how your food manufacturing business could be impacted by the potential ban of PFAS from food packaging, contact our specialist Food & Beverage team at food@khq.com.au. Our team can provide expert and commercially astute advice on how to mitigate compliance risks.
Want Food & Beverage updates delivered straight to your inbox? Click here to subscribe.
