Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse group of thousands of chemicals used in hundreds of types of products. PFAS in the environment can enter the food supply through crops and animals grown, raised, or processed in contaminated areas. It is also possible for very small amounts of PFAS to enter foods through food packaging, processing, and cookware.

Because exposure to some types of PFAS have been linked to serious health effects, we are working to better understand PFAS in foods. Since 2019, we have:

Advanced testing for PFAS in foods by making available the first single lab validated scientific method for testing 30 different types of PFAS in a highly diverse group of foods.
Tested over 1900 samples of foods on the U.S. market.
Provided technical assistance to states, including testing over 400 samples from foods (not on the market) grown, raised, or processed in known areas of contamination.
Conducted human health assessments for individual PFAS detected in foods on the U.S. market and foods tested as part of FDA’s technical assistance to states.
Analyzed post-market scientific data on certain short-chain PFAS and negotiated voluntary market phase-outs. In February 2024, the FDA announced that all grease-proofing agents containing PFAS are no longer being sold in the U.S., and in January 2025, the FDA issued a Notice in the Federal Register announcing its determination that the 35 food contact notifications (FCNs) related to PFAS-containing food contact substances as grease-proofers applied to paper and paperboard food packaging are no longer effective based on the abandonment of these uses.

In 2025 and 2026, we will continue to test foods collected through FDA’s Total Diet Study (TDS) Program to help inform U.S. consumers’ exposure to PFAS from foods. We are reviewing data from additional seafood testing, including a targeted sampling assignment of bivalve mollusks, including clams, oysters, mussels, and scallops, and a 600-sample survey of the top ten consumed seafood species in the U.S.

The results of our testing are summarized and posted throughout the year. If the agency finds that the level of PFAS indicates a health concern for a particular food, we take action, which may include working with the manufacturer to resolve the issue and taking steps to prevent the product from entering, or remaining in, the U.S. market. For example, in 2022, two firms recalled products after FDA’s testing determined the levels of PFAS were a likely health concern. FDA issued Import Alert 99-48, Detention without Physical Examination of Foods Due to Chemical Contamination, in 2024 to prevent entry of such food shipments into the US. Adding firms to an import alert is part of FDA’s commitment to reducing potentially harmful exposures to chemical contaminants in the food supply.

Research, Testing & Analysis

Although PFAS have been in use for more than 80 years, scientific understanding and technical instrumentation needed to test for PFAS at very low concentrations in food has been ongoing since 2012. The FDA has been leading the science in developing validated methods for testing for PFAS in increasingly diverse types of foods. We are testing for extremely low levels of these chemicals—in the parts per trillion. We have extended our testing method to increase the number of PFAS that we can test for, informed by scientific literature, and have selected PFAS based on their expected uptake by foods and the availability of the chemical standards to accurately identify their presence.

The FDA is also expanding our research effort by using high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). This will allow us to determine which additional types of PFAS, beyond those we are specifically testing for with the current method, are present in foods and should be included in targeted methods going forward.

Most of our testing of the general food supply is of samples collected through the Total Diet Study (TDS). No PFAS have been detected above their method detection limit in over 95% (1290 out of 1352) of the fresh and processed foods tested from the TDS. One or more types of PFAS were detected in 69% (46 out of 67) of the seafood sampled in the TDS and in 74% (60 out of 81) of the samples from our 2022 targeted seafood survey.

For the samples where PFAS is detected, the FDA assesses each type of PFAS for which there are toxicological reference values (TRVs). There are currently ten PFAS (PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, HFPO-DA ⌈GenX⌉, PFBS, PFBA, PFHxA, PFDA, and 6:2 FTS) for which there are TRVs that are used to assess the potential human health concern for levels found in food due to environmental contamination. Currently, the FDA evaluates these PFAS individually in food samples; however, we are exploring approaches for evaluating multiple PFAS cooccurring in samples. As science on PFAS continues to advance and new information becomes available, including new and updated TRVs for PFAS and data on cumulative exposure assessments, we may update our conclusions about the potential human health risks from certain levels of PFAS in food to ensure they reflect the most current scientific understanding.

For more information on our testing method and approach to assessing dietary exposure and for results from our recent sampling, please see: