US Food and Drug Administration rejects petition to set Pfas limits in food

Chemical application warning sign on the edge of a field in Wisconsin on 6 July 2023. Photograph: Wolfgang Hoffmann/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Chemical application warning sign on the edge of a field in Wisconsin on 6 July 2023. Photograph: Wolfgang Hoffmann/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group/Getty Images US Food and Drug Administration rejects petition to set Pfas limits in food Environmental protection agency and independent studies have found food biggest source of chemical exposure 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’ push to limit exposures to the dangerous compounds. The agency is refusing to set limits despite a growing body of science and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finding food is the biggest source of Pfas exposure. Testing has found the levels of Pfas in single servings of some contaminated foods to be equivalent to drinking many glasses of contaminated water. While regulators have focused on reining in Pfas in water, the chemicals are widely used throughout the food system, and there was hope that the agency under Robert F Kennedy Jr would take the threat more seriously. Kennedy leads the “make America healthy again” (Maha) movement, of which eliminating toxic chemicals from food is a cornerstone. Kidney cancer rates near Pfas factory in Lancashire a ‘major source of concern’ Read more The FDA’s decision is “disappointing”, said Sandra Daussin, an attorney for the Tucson Environmental Justice Task Force (TEJTF), which in November 2023 filed the legal petition. The group is planning 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. Pfas are a class of at least 16,000 compounds most frequently used to make products water-, stain- and grease-resistant. They have been linked to cancer, birth defects, decreased immunity, high cholesterol, kidney disease and a range of other serious health problems. They are dubbed “forever chemicals” because they can persist for thousands of years in the environment, and are designed to be indestructible. The November 2023 petition called on the FDA to check for up to 30 Pfas compounds in a range of 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. Recent FDA testing found 70% of seafood samples contain the chemicals, while independent milk testing found it 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 ta