What "intentionally added" PFAS actually means
The phrase that triggers every state PFAS obligation, and why it doesn't mean what a lab report says. Quoted from Minnesota, Maine and New Mexico law.
Every state PFAS obligation hangs off two words. Reporting, labelling, sales bans — all of them apply to products with intentionally added PFAS, and none of them apply to anything else.
So it's worth knowing precisely what the phrase means: it does not mean "our lab found PFAS," and it isn't written identically in every state. We covered which states require what last week; this is the definition underneath all of it. Everything below is quoted from the statute or rule, and checked on 6 September 2026.
The core definition
Minnesota and Connecticut use the same words. Minnesota, at §116.943 subd. 1(l):
PFAS deliberately added during the manufacture of a product where the continued presence of PFAS is desired in the final product or one of the product's components to perform a specific function.
Read that carefully, because there are three separate conditions hiding in one sentence:
- Deliberately added — during manufacture, not arriving by accident.
- Continued presence is desired — it's meant to still be there at the end.
- To perform a specific function — it's doing a job: water resistance, grease resistance, a processing aid that stays put.
PFAS that shows up because a machine upstream was contaminated, or because a raw material carried a trace, satisfies none of those. It is present, but it is not intentionally added.
Maine writes it differently, and the difference is real
PFAS added to a product or one of its product components to provide a specific characteristic, appearance or quality or to perform a specific function. "Intentionally added PFAS" also includes any degradation by-products of PFAS.
That last sentence has no counterpart in Minnesota's definition. A degradation by-product is, by definition, something nobody added and nobody wanted — it's what the added substance turned into later. Maine reaches it anyway.
Maine also says "characteristic, appearance or quality or to perform a specific function," which is broader than function alone. A PFAS used to make something look right counts in Maine, on wording that Minnesota does not obviously reach.
Practical consequence: a supplier declaration written against Minnesota's definition is not automatically evidence for Maine. If your declaration form asks "does this product contain intentionally added PFAS?" without saying whose definition, you have collected an answer to a question you didn't ask.
Why a lab result is not the same answer
This is the part that catches people out. "Intentionally added" is a statement about intent and function. A test result is a statement about presence. They are different claims, and one does not substitute for the other:
- A product can test positive for fluorine and contain no intentionally added PFAS.
- A product can contain intentionally added PFAS below what a given method detects.
Which is why total organic fluorine testing is a screening tool, not a compliance answer. It tells you where to look.
Except in New Mexico, where a test result shifts the burden
New Mexico is the state that connects the two, and it's worth quoting exactly. 20.13.2.14 NMAC:
the presence of fluorine in a product or product component above 100 ppm, as measured by a commercially available analytical method, creates a rebuttable presumption that per- or poly-fluoroalkyl substances were intentionally added to the product. A manufacturer must rebut the presumption by demonstrating that the per- or poly-fluoroalkyl substances were not intentionally added.
Three details that summaries tend to lose:
- It says fluorine, not "total organic fluorine". A broader measurement.
- It is a presumption, not a prohibition. 100 ppm is not a limit — it's the point at which the burden of proof moves to you.
- It sits inside the testing section, which applies where there is "reasonable suspicion" that a product contains intentionally added PFAS and the manufacturer has not met the reporting or labelling requirements. It is not a blanket screen applied to every product on the shelf.
Still, the direction of travel is worth noticing: file and label properly, and you are arguing about your own evidence. Don't, and you may find yourself rebutting a lab result.
"PFAS" itself is defined broadly
Separately from intentionally added, the definition of PFAS is wide. Minnesota, §116.943 subd. 1(q):
a class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom.
One fully fluorinated carbon atom. That's a much larger universe than the handful of substances most people picture. It is not a list of named chemicals you can check against.
New Mexico carves out fluoropolymers with a perfluorinated carbon-only or perfluorinated polyether backbone that are solid at standard temperature and pressure, exempting them from its reporting and currently-unavoidable-use requirements (20.13.2.10 NMAC, subsection P). Other states have not written the same carve-out, so a fluoropolymer answer that satisfies New Mexico is not portable either.
What to do with this
Fix the question before you send it. A useful supplier declaration:
- Quotes the definition it is asking against, rather than saying "intentionally added" and hoping. If you sell into Maine, ask the Maine question, degradation by-products and all.
- Asks about function, not just presence — what is the PFAS doing in the product? That answer is what a reporting form needs anyway.
- Separates "we do not add PFAS" from "we have tested and found none." They are different assurances with different value, and a supplier will often give you the first while you assume the second.
- Records who answered and when. Material changes invalidate the answer, and a declaration with no date cannot be re-checked.
Aleph's PFAS declaration requests ask suppliers the function question directly and attach the answer to the product record with its date, so the follow-up question — is this still true? — has somewhere to land.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Every definition above is linked to the state's own statute or rule — check those before acting, and talk to counsel about your specific catalogue.