The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejects a legal petition that asks the agency to set limits for PFAS “forever chemicals” in food. Public health advocates say the decision is a setback for efforts to reduce exposure to the compounds, citing scientific findings that food is a major source of PFAS exposure. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and independent studies are described as concluding that dietary intake plays a significant role in human exposure. The reporting notes that testing has found some contaminated food servings contain PFAS concentrations comparable to consuming many glasses of PFAS-contaminated water.
The petition, originally filed in November 2023, requested that the FDA assess up to 30 PFAS compounds across foods including produce, fish, eggs, milk and bread. After the FDA did not respond within the legally required timeline, the petitioners scaled back the request in 2025 to seek advisory thresholds for two common PFAS compounds, PFOA and PFOS, in seafood and milk. The FDA rejects the revised request, saying it plans to pursue standards and that there is insufficient evidence to support the petition. The agency also signals it intends to establish non-binding “action levels,” which would differ from enforceable “tolerance” limits that would require removing food from shelves if contamination exceeds a threshold.
