Remember when FDA tried convincing us there were no “forever chemicals” in our food? Well, a new analysis has uncovered that residues of these incredibly dangerous chemicals are showing up on a large share of fruits and vegetables grown in the United States. Action Alert!
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THE TOPLINE
- A new Environmental Working Group analysis found PFAS pesticide residues on 37% of tested California produce, with especially high contamination in fruits like peaches, strawberries, and grapes.
- PFAS “forever chemicals” persist in the environment and human body, and are linked to serious health risks, yet are still intentionally used in pesticides applied directly to crops.
- Despite growing evidence of harm, the Environmental Protection Agency is moving to weaken reporting requirements while approving new PFAS pesticides, increasing exposure and shifting the burden onto consumers. And FDA that is tasked with ensuring our food is safe is turning a blind eye.
Why are regulators allowing pesticides made with PFAS chemicals onto our food supply?
A recent analysis from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that 37 percent of tested samples of conventional California-grown produce contained residues of PFAS pesticides.
Out of 930 samples of fruits and vegetables:
- 37% of California produce samples tested contained detectable PFAS residues
- 17 different PFAS pesticides were detected
- PFAS residues were found across 40 different types of produce
- Crops with especially high contamination included peaches, nectarines, plums, strawberries, grapes, and cherries
In some cases, contamination rates were extremely high. More than 90 percent of peaches, nectarines, and plums tested positive for the PFAS fungicide fludioxonil. Strawberries contained residues from ten different PFAS pesticides.
This is a critical issue because California produces more than half of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States, meaning the exposure potential is nationwide. It adds significantly to the exposure burden from drinking water, house dust, other indoor exposures, consumer products, and occupational environments.
These latest results from EWG, like our own analyses of kale in 2023, are somewhat at odds with what the FDA has been reporting through the Total Diet Study (TDS). Through the TDS, the FDA has been testing foods for PFAS since 2019. Referencing the agency’s results, you’d think PFAS contamination of the food supply isn’t a big deal: their data sets consistently show a low percentage of foods with detectable levels of PFAS. In foods collected in 2024 under the TDS, one or more PFAS were detected in just 39 of 542 samples (7.2 percent). Since 2019, the FDA has tested 1,352 food sample for PFAS; according to the agency, 95 percent had no detectable levels of PFAS.
This gap between what independent testing is finding and what the FDA is reporting raises serious questions about whether the agency is asking the right questions, using the right methodology, and, most importantly, protecting Americans’ health or special interest profits. There also appears to be a lack of coordination between the three agencies involved, namely EPA (that regulates pesticides), FDA (that monitors the quality and safety of the food supply), and CDC (that monitors the causes and drivers of disease).
The “Forever Chemical” Problem
PFAS—short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—are often called “forever chemicals” because they are extraordinarily persistent. This is due to the carbon–fluorine bond that makes them resistant to degradation, allowing them to accumulate in soil, water, wildlife, and the human body.
Scientists have linked PFAS exposure to a growing list of health concerns, including immune system disruption, developmental and reproductive harm, hormone disruption, and cancer.
Many Americans already carry measurable levels of PFAS in their blood, largely due to contamination of drinking water and food. Yet despite this mounting evidence, PFAS continue to be intentionally used in pesticides applied directly to crops.
The Invisible Driver of Chronic Disease
There’s a deeper challenge underlying the PFAS crisis: the known health effects of these chemicals closely mirror the conditions driving today’s chronic disease epidemic—immune dysfunction, hormone disruption, reproductive harm, and cancer. Because exposure to PFAS is now so widespread, we’ve effectively lost a true control group, making it extraordinarily difficult to prove direct cause-and-effect in real-world populations. Regulatory systems tend to require that level of proof before acting on health concerns—but with ubiquitous exposure and overlapping disease patterns, that standard becomes nearly impossible to meet.
Yet the biological mechanisms are clear: the carbon–fluorine bond that makes PFAS so persistent also interferes with normal biological processes. This is precisely where policy must come in—shifting from waiting for definitive proof to acting on strong mechanistic evidence and replacing these chemicals with less persistent, safer alternatives.
The Regulatory Contradiction
Federal regulators are moving in the opposite direction of what optimal human health requires.
As ANH-USA recently reported, the EPA is proposing to weaken PFAS reporting requirements, limiting the data needed to understand the scale of contamination and approving new PFAS pesticides, allowing more of these chemicals into the environment. Before that, the EPA scrapped several standards to lower PFAS in drinking water.
That combination—less transparency and more contamination—is the worst possible regulatory response to a rapidly growing environmental health crisis.
What This Means for Consumers
While washing produce may remove some residues, PFAS pesticides are designed to be persistent, meaning they can remain even after rinsing.
For consumers trying to reduce exposure, one option is choosing certified organic produce, which prohibits the use of synthetic pesticides—including PFAS-based ones. But ultimately, the burden should not fall on consumers to navigate a chemically contaminated food system.
PFAS contamination is already being detected in drinking water, wildlife, soil, and human blood. Allowing these chemicals to be sprayed directly onto crops only deepens the crisis.
Until policymakers confront this issue head-on, the PFAS crisis will continue expanding—contaminating ecosystems, food, and future generations.
ANH-USA will continue pushing for a ban on these dangerous “forever chemicals” before the damage becomes truly irreversible.
Action Alert!
