A new PAN Europe investigation reveals high levels of the forever chemical trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in everyday cereal products consumed across Europe. TFA is an ultra-short #PFAS and the breakdown product of PFAS pesticides and F-gases.
The study analysed 66 conventional cereal products from 16 European countries, including breakfast cereals, pasta, croissants, bread, and flour. The results are alarming:
- TFA was found in 81.8% of samples, averaging 78.9 μg/kg with peaks up to 360 μg/kg.
- The average TFA level was 107 times higher than in tap water.
- Wheat-based products were 7.7 times more contaminated, reflecting how efficiently TFA is absorbed by this staple crop.
- 81.8% of samples exceeded the EU’s default Maximum Residue Limit for substances toxic to reproduction or endocrine disruptors, putting children and pregnant people especially at risk.
These findings make it clear that our diet - not just drinking water - is a major pathway of human exposure to this persistent and highly mobile PFAS chemical.
PAN Europe and its member organisations are calling on EU regulators to establish a far more protective safety limit for TFA and to urgently ban PFAS pesticides and other TFA sources. Europeans deserve food free from harmful forever chemicals.
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