PFAS found in fish, eggs, milk and meat

By The New Obs with AFP

Published on June 19, 2025 at 11:22 a.m.

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The NGO Générations Futures is sounding the alarm in a study published this Thursday, highlighting the "widespread contamination" of food by PFAS, these "eternal pollutants."

PFAS aren't just in the water . Two out of three fish, 40% of eggs, and a quarter of milk contain at least one of the four "eternal pollutants" (PFAS) subject to regulatory limits in certain foodstuffs, according to Générations Futures, which denounces "widespread contamination" of food.

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In its study published this Thursday, June 19 , Générations futures analyzes the data from Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and France, countries lagging behind the first three and whose data, limited to certain foodstuffs, means that overall contamination is "underestimated" .

Result: "69% of fish, 55% of offal, 55% of molluscs, 39% of eggs, 27% of crustaceans, 23% of milk and 14% of meat contain at least one of the four PFAS regulated" by the EU, which has established maximum levels for "only" four substances (PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS, PFNA) in these products.

The NGO highlights the difficulties encountered in gathering data since only a handful of these numerous per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS) must be controlled in food. It adds that "only eight countries have submitted data" to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for 2023.

The NGO also deplores the absence from this list of children's foods, fruits, vegetables, cereals and dairy products and would like to expand the list of PFAS measured.

She points out that PFAS used in industry, in herbicides such as flufenacet, widely used and recently banned in the EU, but also in food packaging and kitchen utensils, are likely to contaminate "the entire food chain" .

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