Household products, personal care, pesticides… per- and polyfluoroalkyl substancesbetter known as PFAS, are very present in our daily lives. They might even be found in food packaging.
A recent study looked into this and found that PFAS can contaminate our food. The research, conducted by scientists from Notre-Dame University (USA), was published on March 6 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
“Better known as PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyls are substances with specific chemical properties, used in many industrial fields and everyday products“, explains the Ministry of Energy Transition.
PFAS are a big family made up of more than 4000 chemical compounds with very different properties (non-stick, waterproof, resistant to high heat, etc.). These substances degrade very slowly because of their content of carbon-fluorine bonds (among the most stable chemical bonds). Thus, they are sometimes called eternal chemicals. Among the best known PFAS are:
These substances have been widely used since the 1950s, whether in the textile, cosmetics, phytosanitary fields or in food packaging.
It is this last area that has mainly interested researchers, who wanted to know if PFAS might contaminate food. For this research, the scientists carried out leaching experiments on high density polyethylene (HDPE) fluorinated plastic containers. The leaching process consists of extracting soluble substances with a solvent. This extraction made it possible to note the concentrations of PFAS present in the products observed.
PFAS detected in solvents and food products
The results revealed that billions of PFAS might propagate in solvents, but also in certain food products, in just one week.
“Not only did we measure significant concentrations of PFAS in these containers, but we can also estimate that the PFAS that leached out have creates a direct exposure pathway“said Graham Peaslee, professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Notre Dame and author of the study.
“Our estimate of PFAS releases in food ranged from 0.77 to 2.68 ng/kg body weight per weekwhich shows that the ingestion of food stored in these containers might be a major source of exposure“, add the study authors. This amount of PFAS is sufficient to pose a health risk.
“It is important to note that these types of containers are not intended for food storage, but nothing prevents to use them for that for the moment. Moreover, it is almost impossible for a consumer to know if a container has undergone this treatment“, say the researchers.
PFAS: a health risk that needs to be monitored
“We measured concentrations PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid which is a PFAS) which significantly exceed the limit set by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) 2022 health advisory limits,” the study authors warn.
Moreover, PFAS can pollute in the long term. “Now consider that not only do we know that chemicals migrate into the substances stored there, but that the containers themselves return to the environment via landfills. PFAS do not decay. Once these chemicals are used, they enter groundwater and in our biological systems . Thus, they cause significant health problems“, warn the scientists.
Among these many health problems, we note liver damagethyroid disease, obesity, fertility problems and des cancers. “Observation of PFAS migration suggests that regulations of use are warranted and that future studies should explore their fate when disposed or recycled“, conclude the scientists.