Researchers dismiss “safe” PFAS alternatives as hazardous solutions

According to a study recently published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, replacement per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), heralded as “safe” for use in food packaging, can potentially break down into toxic PFAS that leak into food and environment.  

PFAS is a group of thousands of compounds which are known as “forever chemicals”. This name comes from the fact that these substances do not degrade in the environment, instead they migrate through the food chain and tend to accumulate, including in our bodies.  

Due to the known exposure risks of using smaller PFAS molecules (e.g. PFOA and PFOS) to produce food-contact materials, many companies have shifted to using larger PFAS to make their products water- and grease-repellant. These replacement PFAS, also known as polymeric PFAS, are promoted as “safer” alternatives claiming that they are inert and too heavy to escape from products. According to Marta Venier, co-author of the study and professor at Indiana University (US), “newly introduced compound has similar properties to the compound it replaces. The replacement is considered ‘safer’ because less is known about that specific chemical”.  

With the aim of verifying the claimed safety of these substances, the authors of the study collected 42 different types of food packaging, specifically water-and-grease repellent paper alternatives to plastic, collected from fast-food restaurants in Toronto (Canada), and tested them for total fluorine, an indicator of PFAS. They then completed a detailed analysis of eight of those samples with high levels of total fluorine.  

PFAS were found in almost half of the samples. Each samples contained 5 to 14 different PFAS. 6:2 fluorotelomer alcohol (6:2 FTOH), which is known to be toxic to rodents, was the most abundant compound detected.  

By re-testing the packaging after keeping them at room temperature and in the dark for two years, the researchers discovered that the concentration of PFAS declined by up to 85%, a loss consistent with the breakdown of the polymeric PFAS added to the fast-food packaging.  

This study provides the first evidence that polymeric PFAS used in food packaging break down into smaller molecules that are still dangerous and can leach into food and the environment.  

“We hope this study will contribute more information to the packaging industry and more companies will choose to move away from PFAS in their packaging as there are safe alternatives not involving PFAS,” declared Prof. Venier.        

 

Source:  

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00926