EPA calls food biggest PFAS source as agency opts for voluntary action
The FDA’s rejection, outlined in a response to the revised petition, said the agency plans to take action on setting standards for PFAS but found “insufficient evidence to support” the requested enforceable tolerance levels. The agency will instead pursue non-binding “action levels” that do not require contaminated food to be removed from store shelves, a weaker regulatory approach than the “tolerance levels” the petition sought, which would make it illegal to sell food above a set threshold.
The Tucson Environmental Justice Task Force filed its original petition in November 2023, requesting the FDA screen up to 30 PFAS compounds in produce, fish, eggs, milk, and bread. After the FDA failed to respond within the required 180-day period, the group scaled back its petition in 2025 to ask for advisory thresholds for PFOA and PFOS, two of the most studied and hazardous PFAS, in seafood and milk.
“If it’s important enough to regulate in water, then we need to regulate it in food – that’s a no-brainer,” Sandra Daussin, an attorney for the task force, said. She added that “your body doesn’t know how the PFAS got in there,” referring to the health risks that accumulate regardless of exposure route. The group plans to sue the FDA and ask a court to order the agency to set thresholds, Daussin said.
Recent FDA testing found PFAS in 70% of seafood samples, while independent testing of milk products found the chemicals in 12% of 50 samples, including what the article described as extremely high levels in Whole Foods and Kirkland Signature brands. An analysis of FDA and Environmental Protection Agency fish testing data by the Environmental Working Group found that eating one serving of U.S. freshwater fish contaminated with median PFAS levels could be equivalent to drinking highly contaminated water every day for a month.
PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are a class of at least 16,000 compounds used to make products water-, stain-, and grease-resistant. They are linked to cancer, birth defects, decreased immunity, and other serious health conditions and are called “forever chemicals” because they persist in the environment for thousands of years. The chemicals enter the food supply through contaminated water, pesticides, food packaging, sewage sludge used as fertilizer, and non-stick cookware.
The FDA’s decision comes as the Trump administration, under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has promised to address toxic chemicals as part of the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. The agency’s rejection of the petition marks a setback for that goal, according to advocates. The FDA conducts only limited annual food testing for PFAS and in 2019 changed its methodology in a way that consumer groups said would miss moderate contamination levels.
The Environmental Protection Agency has focused on reining in PFAS in drinking water, proposing limits on certain compounds, but the FDA’s separate jurisdiction over food leaves the food supply largely unmonitored. Regulators acknowledge that the technology to test food for PFAS is less advanced than water testing, and no robust government food testing program exists.