EU Bans PFHxA in Food Packaging Paper From October 10, 2026

On September 19, 2024, the European Commission adopted Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/2462, banning PFHxA, its salts, and related substances in food-contact paper and board across the European Union starting October 10, 2026. The REACH restriction targets a short-chain PFAS used for grease resistance in items such as takeaway wrappers, bakery bags and fast-food containers.

Key takeaways:

• Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/2462 restricts PFHxA, its salts, and related substances in food-contact paper and board across the European Union starting October 10, 2026.
• The regulation sets strict legal thresholds: 25 parts per billion (ppb) for PFHxA and its salts combined, and 1,000 ppb for PFHxA-related substances.
• Short-chain PFHxA was widely adopted by manufacturers to replace phased-out long-chain PFAS, but European regulators concluded it is highly persistent and mobile in water and living systems.
• Packaging treatments do not appear on food ingredient panels, leaving shoppers to look for certified PFAS-free claims and adjust basic food-handling routines.

What happened

On September 19, 2024, the European Commission formally adopted Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/2462, amending Annex XVII to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH). The regulation establishes an explicit restriction on placing on the market, or using, undecafluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), its salts, and PFHxA-related substances in specified consumer-facing product categories.

For food-contact materials made of paper and board, the transition window closes on October 10, 2026. After this date, manufacturers, distributors, and food service operators within the European Union cannot place paper-based food packaging on the market if it exceeds the designated PFHxA concentration caps. Similar deadlines apply to consumer textiles, cosmetic formulations, and consumer mixtures, while select industrial and professional textile applications phase out in 2027.

The measure targets one of the short-chain chemicals that suppliers turned to after older, long-chain PFAS were restricted.

What changed in the packaging rules?

Under Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/2462, paper and cardboard intended for contact with food cannot be placed on the market if the concentration of PFHxA and its salts equals or exceeds 25 parts per billion (ppb), or if the sum of PFHxA-related substances equals or exceeds 1,000 ppb. These limits apply to the packaging material itself.

Historically, packaging converters used PFAS because their unique carbon-fluorine bonds repel both lipids and water simultaneously. This dual barrier prevents grease from soaking through burger wrappers, pastry sacks, or microwave popcorn bags. When legacy long-chain compounds like PFOA were restricted due to bioaccumulation and toxicity concerns, many chemical suppliers transitioned to six-carbon short-chain molecules like PFHxA.

While short-chain fluorochemicals were initially promoted as less bioaccumulative alternatives, European chemical assessments found PFHxA to be extremely persistent in the environment and highly mobile in aquatic pathways. Because it resists breaking down, releases add up in the environment over time, which is the main reason regulators chose a restriction.

Who is affected by the October 2026 ban?

The October 10, 2026 deadline directly governs manufacturers of paper and board food containers, commercial packaging converters, and commercial food businesses operating in the EU. Takeaway chains, independent bakeries, grocery delis, and meal-delivery brands must ensure their inventory complies with the 25 ppb and 1,000 ppb standards. Testing firms such as TÜV SÜD have published summaries of the restriction for suppliers.

Typical paper and board formats that have used grease-proofing treatments include:

• Fast-food burger wraps, sandwich wrappers, and greaseproof basket liners
• Moulded fibre bowls, takeaway salad containers, and pressed compostable clamshells
• Bakery bags, pastry sheets, and fried-food carrying pouches
• Microwave popcorn bags and paperboard trays

In the United States, parallel shifts have already altered packaging supply chains. In February 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that grease-proofing substances containing PFAS were no longer being sold for food contact in the U.S. market by manufacturers, following voluntary phase-out commitments. Additionally, several U.S. states have enacted laws prohibiting intentionally added PFAS in food packaging. Beyond the REACH restriction, separate EU packaging rules under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation also address PFAS in food-contact packaging starting in August 2026, so EU food packaging is now covered by two sets of PFAS rules.

What it means for shoppers

For everyday consumers, the most critical reality of food packaging chemistry is that barrier treatments never appear on the ingredient list. When buying a prepared sandwich, a frozen burrito, or a bakery item, the ingredient label lists food items like flours, oils, or Preservatives on Ingredient Lists Explained: Benzoate to BHA. It does not disclose the chemical coatings sprayed onto the paper wrapping.

This structural lack of disclosure makes direct point-of-sale assessment challenging. Migration of barrier substances into food is driven by three main physical factors: contact time, fat content, and heat. Warm, fatty foods such as french fries, buttery pastries, or melted sandwiches facilitate faster migration from treated paper than cold, dry goods. A 2024 review in Environmental Science & Technology (PMC10993423) mapped 68 PFAS detected in food contact materials, including paper, plastic and coated metal, and found long-chain PFAS still turning up despite years of restrictions; it also found hazard data available for only 57 percent of them. For more on chemicals in fast food, see our EWG fast food chemicals piece.

Microwave popcorn bags are another format where fluorinated barriers were historically common; ready-to-eat popcorn, like the bag in our SkinnyPop spotlight, skips the heated-bag step. While direct chemical measurement in the kitchen is impossible, shoppers looking to reduce dietary exposure can watch for specific signals:

• Third-party compostability or "PFAS-free" certifications printed directly on paper bowls and bags
• Packaging made with mechanical barriers, such as dense glassine or vegetable-parchment papers, rather than chemical coatings
• Takeaway containers made from untreated unbleached kraft paper without heavy grease barriers

Practically, avoid reheating food inside greaseproof wrappers or takeaway paper containers, since heat and fat both favor migration. Transferring hot meals to ceramic or glass dishes prior to microwaving prevents elevated temperatures from accelerating chemical mobility from the container surface into the food.baby food tests: heavy metals down, microplastics and phthalates up]

The background

To understand why the EU targeted PFHxA, one must look at the substitution patterns that defined the chemical industry over the past two decades. Early fluorinated surface treatments relied primarily on eight-carbon chemistries (C8), such as PFOA and PFOS. As international studies documented the persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity of C8 compounds, global regulatory bodies steadily restricted them under the Stockholm Convention and REACH.

In response, chemical manufacturers engineered six-carbon (C6) chemistries, including PFHxA. Industry argued that C6 molecules eliminated from human tissues more rapidly than their eight-carbon predecessors. However, independent evaluations by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and member state authorities demonstrated that while biological elimination times were shorter, the fundamental persistence of the perfluorinated carbon chain remained unchanged.

Because PFHxA is very mobile in water, it can move through wastewater, run-off and drinking water sources, and treated paper that is composted or landfilled is one route into soil and groundwater. Germany submitted the restriction proposal under REACH, leading to Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/2462.

Evidence limitations remain regarding the exact lifetime health outcomes of low-dose, mixed-PFAS ingestion across diverse human populations. Toxicological assessments establish chemical persistence and systemic presence, but isolating individual human clinical responses to specific short-chain analogues like PFHxA in commercial food contact remains difficult given widespread background exposures.

What to watch next

With the October 10, 2026 date weeks away, EU food businesses need paper packaging that meets the limits. Alternatives include dense papers such as glassine and vegetable parchment that resist grease mechanically, and non-fluorinated coatings; the open question is what those coatings bring with them.

Enforcement is up to member-state authorities. In parallel, broader universal PFAS restriction proposals continue to make their way through ECHA scientific committees, which could eventually extend beyond PFHxA to cover all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances across European commerce.