Maine Lawmakers Introduce First-Ever Bill To Limit PFAS In Food

While several states, including Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Maine, have moved to ban per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in cookware products, no state has yet established specific limits for PFAS levels in food. This could change soon, as Maine lawmakers—who enacted one of the first state-level PFAS prohibitions in consumer products in 2021—have introduced a bill that, if passed, would make Maine the first state to establish PFAS limits in food.

Introduced earlier this year, SB130, titled An Act to Establish the PFAS Response Program and to Modify the Fund To Address PFAS Contamination (the Act), directs Maine's Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) to establish and codify maximum PFAS levels in food. The Act was introduced by Sen. Henry Ingwersen, asserting in a press release that Maine's farms "have been hit the hardest when it comes to the PFAS contamination crisis." The Act would, among other things, codify portions of DACF's