The discovery of Polyfluorinated Chemicals commonly called PFAS comes from a recent investigation by the Food and Drug Administration, which tested for the presence of PFAS chemicals in foods across eight mid-Atlantic states. While the FDA has not officially released those results, according to the agency’s findings that were obtained by the Environmental Defense Fund, and a report by the Associated Press, PFAS chemicals were found in a number of grocery store bought foods, and some at extremely toxic levels.
Dr. Andrew Davis is a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group a non-profit, non-partisan organization “dedicated to protecting human health and the environment,” according to their website.
“Well the concern is that food packaging could be the source of some of this contamination and we really don’t know,” Davis said. “What we do know is that the FDA has approved approximately 20 different types of coating made with these chemicals. And it is relatively unknown how much of that is getting into the food, but we know that some of the chemicals are actually leaching out.”
Results from the tests found PFAS chemicals in packaged meat, seafood and dairy products; as well as sweet potatoes; pineapples; leafy greens, and chocolate cake with icing, some at levels over 250 times higher than deemed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.
PFAS chemicals can lead to a laundry list of health concerns if enough is consumed including liver and kidney cancer. So, what’s the solution? Here’s Dr. Davis’ opinion:
“So change is possible,” Davis said. “And its critical that we make it as soon as we can, because of the time it takes to release the chemicals from our body.”
Meanwhile Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Tara Rabin said Monday that despite being hundreds of times higher than the EPA’s safety threshold for PFAS, the contamination in the food was “not likely to be a human health concern,”