IN Brief:
- Lecta says its full packaging portfolio, including food-contact papers and labels, is now produced without added PFAS.
- The change follows reformulation work, tighter raw material selection, and new grease-resistant grades for food and food service applications.
- The move comes ahead of the EU’s PPWR timetable, which introduces PFAS restrictions for food-contact packaging from August 2026.
Lecta has shifted its entire packaging portfolio, including its food packaging and labelling range, to a no-PFAS-added standard, extending the change across flexible and rigid packaging, self-adhesive materials, labels and bags. The move turns what had previously been a product-level designation into a portfolio-wide baseline, meaning the “No PFAS Added” wording will no longer appear in individual product names because the company says the standard now applies across all its packaging paper ranges.
For food packaging applications, the technical significance lies in the barrier portfolio. Lecta has introduced new no-PFAS-added grease-resistant papers across its Creaset, Metalvac and Adestor ranges, developed as replacements for conventional greaseproof papers used in food and food service settings. The company says the grades are designed to retain processability and technical performance while removing intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from the formulation approach.
The portfolio-wide change follows a broader review of formulations, raw material selection and supply-chain controls. PFAS removal in food-contact packaging is not limited to swapping out a coating chemistry on one grade. It tends to require a wider reset around fibre and additive inputs, converting performance and quality assurance, particularly where grease resistance is a key functional requirement. In Lecta’s case, the change has now been applied across a global packaging portfolio rather than confined to a limited food-service subset.
The timing is closely aligned with the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. Under the regulation, from 12 August 2026 food-contact packaging cannot be placed on the market if it contains PFAS at or above specified concentration limits, while other parts of the regime introduce broader obligations around recyclability, chemical safety and circularity, with longer transition periods for some requirements. That date has become an important marker for packaging manufacturers and food-contact material suppliers, particularly where barrier papers and fibre-based alternatives are being used in place of fluorinated chemistries.
Within that context, Lecta’s move is less a single-product launch than a portfolio compliance shift. By extending the standard across papers, labels and associated packaging materials, the company has effectively reset its offer around a chemistry position that is already moving into the regulatory mainstream. The removal of the no-PFAS-added label from individual grades reflects the broader change, with PFAS exclusion now treated as the default manufacturing standard rather than a limited product feature.
The food packaging market has been moving steadily in this direction as regulatory pressure tightens and scrutiny of intentionally added fluorinated substances broadens. Grease resistance remains one of the more difficult technical demands in fibre-based food packaging, particularly for quick-service, bakery, takeaway and other high-fat applications, so barrier performance still has to be maintained while chemistry options narrow. Lecta’s reformulated Creaset, Metalvac and Adestor grades show how that transition is increasingly being handled at industrial portfolio level, rather than through isolated product exceptions.
With the August 2026 PPWR milestone approaching, the company’s food-contact range now sits in clearer alignment with the next phase of EU packaging compliance. For manufacturers supplying food service papers, labels and related converted formats, that makes PFAS-free performance less an experimental claim than a specification requirement.
