Overview

The California Safer Food Packaging Act of 2025 (AB 1148), authored by Assemblymember Dr LaShae Sharp-Collins, prohibits companies from distributing, or selling in California any food or beverage packaging that contains the following intentionally added harmful chemicals:

• The class of Bisphenols except tetramethyl bisphenol F (TMBPF);
• The entire class of Ortho-phthalates
• Antimony trioxide

These chemicals have been found in food and beverage packaged in materials like cans, foil, pouches, and other packaging types, and include milk and dairy products, meat and seafood, prepared meals, fruits and vegetables, baby food, and fast food.

Bisphenols are a group of chemicals that are linked to a wide variety of health harms, including hormone disruption, reproductive problems in women and men, breast cancer, metabolic problems including obesity and diabetes, immune system inflammation linked to asthma, cardiovascular disease, behavioral effects, and reduced learning and memory. [1] New scientific analysis has shown that BPA can have harmful effects at levels much lower than previously thought, and other bisphenols also show endocrine disrupting effects. Residents in the US are likely exposed to a level that is 1000 higher than what the European Food Safety Authority deems safe, which banned BPA in December 2024 and other harmful bisphenols in food packaging materials.

Ortho-phthalates are hormone-disrupting chemicals that have been linked to breast cancer, developmental issues such as attention deficit disorder, decreased fertility, obesity, and asthma.

Testing by Consumer Reports in early 2024 found bisphenols and phthalates in almost every food they tested, often at high levels.[2] Bisphenols and phthalates have been found in a variety of food products including cooking oils and have also been found in PET plastics, which are commonly used for beverage bottles and other food containers.[3]

Antimony Trioxide is listed as a Proposition 65 chemical (carcinogen) by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and is considered to be a cancer-causing chemical by the US Federal Department of Health and Human Services and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It is used as a catalyst in the production of PET plastic, and Antimony has been found in the beverage contents of PET plastic bottles. Antimony tested in some beverage brands by Defend Our Health exceeded the California drinking water public health goal.[4]

The California Safer Food Packaging Act of 2025 would expand upon another BCPP co-sponsored bill, the California Safer Food Packaging & Cookware Act (AB 1200—Ting), which became law in 2021. That law banned PFAS  chemicals from paper-based food packaging, required cookware manufacturers to disclose the presence of hazardous chemicals, and prohibited misleading advertising on cookware packaging.

The Safer Food Packaging Act of 2025 bill bans intentionally added bisphenols, ortho-phthalates, and Antimony Trioxide from packages, packaging components, or food service ware for containing, serving, storing, handling, protecting, or marketing food, foodstuffs, or beverages. It includes food or beverage containers, take-out food containers, unit product boxes, liners, wrappers, serving vessels, eating utensils, straws, food boxes, and disposable plates, bowls, or trays.

The bill would ban these three chemical groups from food and beverage packaging by January 2027, at or above a limit level set in regulations by the Department of Toxic Substances Control. 

The Department of Toxic Substances Control can also set standards that are more protective of public health, sensitive populations, or the environment for antimony, bisphenols, and ortho-phthalates. 

The bill can be enforced by the California Attorney General or local district attorneys, should these chemicals be found in food packaging.

BCPP is co-sponsoring this legislation with the Environmental Working Group and CalPIRG.

Contact

Nancy Buermeyer, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners Director of Program & Policy

Co-Sponsoring Organizations: 

Californians Against Waste 

Environmental Working Group EWG 

Supporting Organizations: 

Active San Gabriel Valley 

Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments 

American College of OB/GYN’s District IX 

Black Women for Wellness Action Project 

Breast Cancer Over Time 

California Black Health Network 

California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice  

Center for Environmental Health 

Clean Water Action  

ClientEarth4Kids 

Climate Action California 

Consumer Reports 

Defend Our Health 

FACTS Families Advocating for Chemical and Toxics Safety 

Friends of the Earth 

Green Science Policy Institute 

Just Transition Alliance 

Latino Coalition for a Healthy California 

National Stewardship Action Council 

Natural Resources Defense Council 

Non-Toxic Neighborhoods 

Physicians for Social Responsibility San Francisco Bay 

Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority 

San Francisco Baykeeper 

Save the Bay 

Sierra Club California 

The Last Beach Cleanup 

7th Generation Advisors