In a new risk assessment of PFAS, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has assessed the four PFASs contributing to about half of the amount of perfluoroalkyl substances to which humans are exposed. The four substances comprise PFOA, PFOS, PFNA and PFHxS.
The new threshold is set as a group tolerable weekly intake (TWI) of 4.4 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per week.
For more details, download the report Risk to human health related to the presence of perfluoroalkyl substances in food
The critical human health effect
The EFSA experts considered the decreased response of the immune system to vaccination to be the most critical human health effect when determining the new TWI. This differs from a previous EFSA opinion from 2018, which used increased cholesterol as the critical effect.
The exposure to these PFAS substances is most often from drinking water, fish, fruit, eggs and egg products.
For more information on PFAS and chemicals in food, please contact:
Helle Buchardt Boyd
hbb@dhigroup.com
Tel +45 4516 9097
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