The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Subchapter
012C
:
CHEMICALS OF CONCERN IN FOOD PACKAGING [EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2026]
(Cite as: 9 V.S.A. § 2494x)
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§ 2494x. Food packaging [Effective January 1, 2026]
(a) A manufacturer shall not manufacture, sell, offer for sale, distribute for sale, or
distribute for use in this State a food package to which PFAS have been intentionally
added and are present in any amount.
(b)(1) Pursuant to 3 V.S.A. chapter 25, the Department may adopt rules prohibiting a manufacturer, supplier, or distributor
from selling or offering for sale or for promotional distribution a food package or
the packaging component of a food package to which bisphenols have been intentionally
added and are present in any amount. The Department may exempt specific chemicals
within the bisphenol class when clear and convincing evidence suggests they are not
endocrine-active or otherwise toxic.
(2) The Department may only prohibit a manufacturer, supplier, or distributor from selling
or offering for sale or for promotional distribution a food package or the packaging
component of a food package in accordance with this subsection if the Department or
at least one other state has determined that a safer alternative is readily available
in sufficient quantity and at a comparable cost and that the safer alternative performs
as well as or better than bisphenols in a specific application of bisphenols to a
food package or the packaging component of a food package.
(3) If the Department prohibits a manufacturer, supplier, or distributor from selling
or offering for sale or for promotional distribution a food package or the packaging
component of a food package in accordance with this subsection, the prohibition shall
not take effect until two years after the Department adopts the rules.
(c) A manufacturer shall not manufacture, sell, offer for sale, distribute for sale, or
distribute for use in this State a food package that includes inks, dyes, pigments,
adhesives, stabilizers, coatings, plasticizers, or any other additives to which ortho-phthalates
have been intentionally added and are present in any amount.
(d) This section shall not apply to the sale or resale of used products. (Added 2023, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. January 1, 2026.)