PFAS in cookware: what the bans in Minnesota, Colorado and Maine cover, from nonstick pans to air fryers

Nonstick pans, air fryer baskets and coffee makers are among the kitchen products now caught by state laws on PFAS, the large family of fluorinated chemicals used for nonstick and water- and grease-resistant surfaces. Minnesota, Colorado and Maine each ban the sale of cookware that contains intentionally added PFAS. This guide covers only those three states, from Minnesota's statute, the Colorado legislature's bill summaries and health department page, and Maine's agency guidance, read on November 10, 2026. It is not a complete list of states with PFAS cookware rules: other states may have their own laws, and this guide does not cover them.

What the three laws ban, and since when

The bans apply to selling, offering for sale or distributing in each state. Minnesota defines “intentionally added” as PFAS put in deliberately during manufacture because it is meant to stay in the finished product, or one of its parts, to do a specific job. As we read that definition, PFAS present only as an unintended impurity would not count, and the bans turn on whether PFAS was intentionally added, not on how much of it reaches food.

What counts as cookware

Minnesota's statute defines cookware as durable housewares used to prepare, dispense or store food or drinks, and lists pots, pans, skillets, grills, baking sheets, baking molds, trays, bowls and cooking utensils as examples. Its definition does not name electric appliances. Maine's Department of Environmental Protection is more specific. Its guidance covers household products with a food-contact surface that contains intentionally added PFAS, and names electric cookware such as coffee makers, waffle makers, skillets and air fryers alongside pots and pans.

Both states also carve out PFAS used only inside a product. Minnesota's 2025 ban does not reach a product whose intentionally added PFAS is only in electronic or internal components, which the statute defines as parts designed not to be touched by a person during intended use or handling. Maine's agency says cookware with PFAS only in internal components that do not contact food is outside its 2026 ban, but falls under the broader ban that starts in 2032. As we read Maine's guidance, for an air fryer or coffee maker the current ban turns on the surfaces that touch food, not on parts inside the housing.

What the FDA says about nonstick coatings

The federal view of nonstick pans comes from food safety rules. The Food and Drug Administration authorizes specific PFAS-containing substances for food contact, nonstick coatings among them. It explains that the PFAS in a nonstick coating is polymerized into large molecules and bonded to the pan at very high temperatures, a process that drives off virtually all the smaller molecules that could migrate, and it says studies find that only negligible amounts of PFAS can migrate from the coating into food. The FDA adds that polymerized, large-molecule PFAS are not absorbed by the body when eaten.

The use the FDA did flag was grease-proofing on paper food packaging, where it says smaller PFAS side chains can detach, with the potential to migrate to food at levels that may be a safety concern. The agency says PFAS grease-proofers are no longer sold for that use in the US market, and their authorizations have been revoked. The state bans are separate state rules on which products may be sold.

Labels, claims and who is responsible

Colorado's 2022 law, as its legislature summarizes it, has since January 1, 2024, required makers of cookware with intentionally added PFAS in the handle or a food-contact surface to say so on the label, along with a statement pointing to a website that explains why the PFAS was added. Since the same date, a maker may call its cookware free of PFAS only if no PFAS chemical is intentionally added to it.

In Minnesota, the Pollution Control Agency's commissioner can require a manufacturer to provide test results within 30 days when there is reason to believe a product on sale contains intentionally added PFAS, and manufacturers must tell sellers when a product is banned. The law does not apply to the sale or resale of used products. In Maine, the agency says a retailer is in violation if it keeps offering a product after the manufacturer has told it the item is banned.

What comes next

The next changes are broader. Colorado's ban on food equipment intended mainly for commercial settings starts on January 1, 2028. Minnesota and Maine both move to bans on any product with intentionally added PFAS on January 1, 2032, with exceptions only where the state has ruled a use currently unavoidable. Maine's agency says it does not expect to start rulemaking on more such exceptions in 2026, and that proposals for products facing the 2032 ban are accepted from January 2027. For a specific product, the state agency is the authority on what its ban covers.

If you are replacing pans for an induction cooktop, our induction guide explains the ferromagnetic cookware ENERGY STAR says those cooktops heat, and our kitchen appliance recall guide covers checking a model before you buy.