FDA Finds PFAS in Your Food But Refuses to Set Safety Limits

The FDA knows there are "forever chemicals" in your food. Its own scientists found them. The agency published the data. And then it did nothing.

In December 2025, the FDA released additional results from its Total Diet Study, the agency's primary surveillance program for monitoring contaminants in the American food supply. The findings: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS, were detected in 7.2% of 542 food samples tested during 2024.

The contaminated foods read like a typical grocery list. Trace amounts of PFAS were found in cod, shrimp, clams, salmon, tilapia, catfish, pepperoni, beef steak, ground beef, chicken breast, half and half, whole milk, skim milk, and kale. Higher concentrations, above trace levels, were detected in shrimp, clams, catfish, and tilapia.

Yet despite confirming contamination in staple American foods, the FDA has not set a single enforceable limit for PFAS in food.

The Regulatory Silence

The Environmental Working Group responded to the FDA data with a pointed statement in December 2025: "The FDA cannot afford to wait one more day to set action levels for PFAS in our food, as other nations have done."

Other countries have already acted. The European Union has established limits for PFAS in various food categories. Several individual nations have set their own food safety standards for these compounds. The United States has set enforceable PFAS limits for drinking water (though those were partially rolled back in 2025), but it has no equivalent standards for food.

The distinction matters because for millions of Americans, food, not water, is the primary route of PFAS exposure. While water filtration can reduce PFAS levels in tap water, there is no consumer-level equivalent for removing forever chemicals from food.

What PFAS Does to Your Body

PFAS earned their "forever chemical" nickname because they do not break down naturally. Their molecular structure, built on some of the strongest chemical bonds in nature, allows them to persist in the environment for centuries. Once ingested, they accumulate in the human body over time.

The health consequences of PFAS exposure have been documented in hundreds of peer-reviewed studies:

• Immune system suppression, including reduced vaccine effectiveness
• Elevated cancer risk, particularly kidney and testicular cancers
• Increased cholesterol levels
• Reproductive harm, including reduced fertility and pregnancy complications
• Liver and kidney damage
• Thyroid disease
• Developmental effects in children exposed during pregnancy

These effects occur at remarkably low exposure levels, which is why the EPA set its drinking water standard at just 4 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS. But without food standards, Americans unknowingly consume PFAS with every meal.

How PFAS Gets Into Food

The contamination pathways are multiple and interconnected.

Agricultural chemicals: The EPA has approved pesticides containing PFAS for use on food crops, including soybeans, lettuce, and other vegetables. Analysis by the Environmental Working Group and reporting by Civil Eats found that California's agricultural fields are sprayed with an average of 2.5 million pounds of PFAS-containing pesticides each year. In 2025 alone, the Trump EPA proposed approving four new PFAS pesticides, with two receiving final approval.

Water contamination: An estimated 158 million Americans drink tap water contaminated with PFAS. When this water is used for irrigation, the chemicals enter the food chain through crops and livestock.

Food packaging: PFAS compounds have been widely used in food packaging for their grease-resistant properties, particularly in fast food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, and takeout containers.

Environmental accumulation: PFAS released from industrial sites, landfills, and wastewater treatment plants contaminate soil and water, where they are taken up by plants and bioaccumulate in animals that humans eat.

States Filling the Federal Void

With the FDA declining to act on food contamination, state legislatures have stepped into the gap. In 2025, 203 PFAS-related bills were introduced across 37 states, addressing contamination in water, food packaging, consumer products, and agricultural inputs.

New York announced significant new PFAS response actions in December 2025, with the state investing $500 million in water infrastructure. Multiple states have banned PFAS in food packaging. Others have established their own drinking water standards that exceed federal limits.

But state action cannot address the fundamental problem: PFAS contamination in the food supply requires federal regulation. A patchwork of state laws does not protect consumers in states that have not acted, and it does nothing to address contamination in nationally distributed food products.

The FDA's Defense

The FDA has pointed to the broader context of its testing data. Since 2019, the agency has tested 1,352 food samples for PFAS, and 95% had no detectable levels. The agency has also highlighted its efforts to phase out PFAS in food packaging, with several major manufacturers voluntarily discontinuing certain PFAS uses.

Critics argue that 7% contamination in the most recent year of testing is not a reassuring number when applied to the scale of the American food supply. Seven percent of the food consumed in a country of 330 million people represents billions of contaminated servings each year.

The EWG has also noted that "not detectable" does not mean "not present." Detection limits have improved over time, and previous samples tested with older methods may have contained PFAS below then-current detection thresholds.

What Consumers Can Do

In the absence of federal food safety standards for PFAS, consumers are left to manage their own exposure:

• Reduce consumption of seafood known to accumulate PFAS, particularly shellfish from contaminated waters
• Avoid food packaged in grease-resistant materials, which may contain PFAS
• Choose fresh, unpackaged foods when possible
• Filter drinking water with activated carbon or reverse osmosis systems certified for PFAS removal
• Support state and federal legislative efforts to regulate PFAS in food

The FDA has the data. It has the authority. What it lacks, so far, is the willingness to act.

Sources

1. Environmental Working Group - "FDA finds toxic 'forever chemicals' in food but still won't set enforceable limits" - December 2025. https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/statement/2025/12/fda-finds-toxic-forever-chemicals-food-still-wont-set-enforceable

2. Food Safety Magazine - "Latest FDA Total Diet Study Testing Finds PFAS in 7 Percent of Samples" - December 2025. https://www.food-safety.com/articles/11002-latest-fda-total-diet-study-testing-finds-pfas-in-7-percent-of-samples

3. U.S. Food and Drug Administration - "Analytical Results of Testing Food for PFAS from Environmental Contamination" - December 2025. https://www.fda.gov/food/environmental-contaminants-food/analytical-results-testing-food-pfas-environmental-contamination

4. KJZZ - "FDA releases new data on PFAS levels in food, adding to growing research on contaminant" - December 26, 2025. https://www.kjzz.org/science/2025-12-26/fda-releases-new-data-on-pfas-levels-in-food-adding-to-a-growing-research-on-contaminant

5. Civil Eats - "What to Know About PFAS in Pesticides" - December 10, 2025. https://civileats.com/2025/12/10/what-to-know-about-pfas-in-pesticides/

6. NYC Food Policy Center - "PFAS Deregulation and the Costs to Our Food System" - 2025. https://www.nycfoodpolicy.org/pfas-deregulation-and-the-costs-to-our-food-system/