FDA Denies Petition on PFAS Limits in Food
The US Food and Drug Administration has rejected a legal petition demanding it set limits on toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in food, marking another setback for public health advocates. The agency refused to set thresholds despite a growing body of science and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finding that food is the biggest source of PFAS exposure. Testing has shown that levels of PFAS in single servings of some contaminated foods can be equivalent to drinking many glasses of contaminated water.
Regulatory Focus on Water, Not Food
While regulators have focused on reining in PFAS in water, the chemicals are widely used throughout the food system. There was hope that the agency under Robert F Kennedy Jr would take the threat more seriously, as Kennedy leads the “make America healthy again” (Maha) movement, which aims to eliminate toxic chemicals from food. However, the FDA’s decision is “disappointing,” said Sandra Daussin, an attorney for the Tucson Environmental Justice Task Force (TEJTF), which filed the legal petition in November 2023. The group plans to sue and ask a court to order the FDA to set thresholds. “If it’s important enough to regulate in water then we need to regulate it in food – that’s a no-brainer,” Daussin said.
Health Risks of PFAS
PFAS are a class of at least 16,000 compounds used to make products water-, stain-, and grease-resistant. They have been linked to cancer, birth defects, decreased immunity, high cholesterol, kidney disease, and other serious health problems. Dubbed “forever chemicals,” they persist for thousands of years in the environment. The November 2023 petition called on the FDA to check for up to 30 PFAS compounds in produce, fish, eggs, milk, and bread. The agency did not respond within the six-month timeframe required by law, but TEJTF scaled back its petition in 2025 to ask the agency to set advisory thresholds for PFOA and PFOS—two of the most common and dangerous PFAS compounds—in seafood and milk.
High Contamination Levels Found
Recent FDA testing found 70% of seafood samples contain the chemicals, while independent milk testing found PFAS in 12% of 50 samples, including extremely high levels in Whole Foods and Kirkland Signature brands. The FDA rejected the revised petition, stating it plans to take action on setting standards for PFAS but that there is “insufficient evidence to support [TEJTF’s] request.” The agency said it plans to set non-binding “action levels” that do not require contaminated food to be removed from shelves, unlike “tolerance levels” or limits that make it illegal to sell food contaminated beyond a set threshold.
Sources of PFAS Contamination
PFAS enters food because it is commonly used in pesticides, food packaging, and sewage sludge used as fertilizer. It is also found in non-stick cookware, kitchen products, and polluted water used in processing or growing. Gauging the scale of the problem is difficult because technology to test food for PFAS is not as advanced as that for water, and there is no robust government testing program. However, independent testing suggests a broader problem. Meat and crops from farms using sewage sludge have been found to contain high levels of PFAS, and some state agencies have ordered contaminated food and milk off the market.
Equivalent Exposure to Contaminated Water
Independent testing has found high levels of PFAS in blueberries, kale, and other water-rich produce because the chemicals are attracted to water. Beer has also been found contaminated, and EPA testing of seafood found PFAS in all but one sample. Eating 10 blueberries grown near a PFAS plant in North Carolina was found to be equivalent to drinking a liter of water with PFAS levels above the federal limit. An analysis by the Environmental Working Group found that eating one serving of US freshwater fish contaminated with median PFAS levels could be equivalent to drinking highly contaminated water every day for a month. “Your body doesn’t know how the PFAS got in there,” Daussin said.
FDA Methodology Concerns
The FDA conducts limited annual testing and in 2019 adjusted its methodology to only catch extremely high contamination levels, ignoring low to moderate levels that still pose a health risk. In 2019, the FDA initially found 182 food samples contaminated with PFAS, but after changing its methodology, that figure dropped to 78, drawing accusations of covering up contamination. “Imagine using a radar gun to detect speeding in cars, but then manipulating the radar so that it only detects speeding in cars going over 100 mph,” wrote Brian Ronholm, a former deputy under secretary of food safety at the US Department of Agriculture, in Consumer Reports.
