WASHINGTON – Today the Food and Drug Administration announced additional testing data about detections in food of the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS. The findings underscore the urgent need for enforceable limits on PFAS in food, not just continued monitoring.
The data was collected through the FDA’s Total Diet Study.
The FDA reported that trace and quantifiable PFAS detections were found in seafood, meat, dairy products and vegetables. The list of foods includes shrimp, clams, catfish, tilapia, beef, chicken, milk and kale.
Although the agency emphasized that most samples tested showed no detectable PFAS, the Environmental Working Group stressed that even low-level contamination poses serious health risks, particularly because PFAS accumulates in the body over time.
In April, the EWG submitted comments to the FDA urging the agency to set enforceable limits for PFAS in food.
The following is a statement from Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs.
The FDA cannot afford to wait one more day to set action levels for PFAS in our food, as other nations have done.
The EPA must ban the use of pesticides made with PFAS and ban the practice of applying sludge contaminated with PFAS to food crops and animal feed.
For millions of Americans, our food, not our water, is the primary route of exposure to PFAS. Federal action is urgent and long overdue.
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
