Regarding PFOS and PFOA occurrence, the ﬁnal data set available for dietary exposure assessment

Overview

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Key numbers

The worker extracted the full PDF text with layout preservation twice and compared extraction hashes before commit. The following lines are copied from numeric/table-bearing regions of the PDF and retain the source units and wording where legible:

contained a total of 20,019 analytical results (PFOS n = 10,191 and PFOA n = 9,828). There were
human half-lives for PFOS and PFOA are about 5 years and 2–4 years, respectively. The derivation of a
© 2018 European Food Safety Authority. EFSA Journal published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf
the minutes of the expert meeting of 24 September 2018 (EFSA/CONTAM/3503) (https://www.efsa.
www.efsa.europa.eu/efsajournal EFSA Journal 2018;16(12):5194
1. Scientiﬁc Opinion on the risk to human health related to the presence of perﬂuorooctane
sulfonic acid and perﬂuorooctanoic acid in food. EFSA Journal 2018;16(12):5194, 284 pp. https://doi.
ISSN: 1831-4732
© 2018 European Food Safety Authority. EFSA Journal published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf
www.efsa.europa.eu/efsajournal 2 EFSA Journal 2018;16(12):5194
substances consists of a hydrophobic alkyl chain of varying length (typically C4–C16) and a hydrophilic
branched and linear isomers. Since the 1940s, PFASs have been produced and used in numerous
An initial number of 21,411 results for food samples analysed for PFOS (n = 10,889) and PFOA
(n = 10,522) from 16 European countries were available for the assessment. The data set was
quantiﬁcation (LOQ)) with 74% of left-censored data for PFOS and 91% of left-censored data for
PFOA. A total of 20,019 analytical results for PFOS (n = 10,191) and PFOA (n = 9,828) fulﬁlled the
mean = 215/215 lg/kg for PFOS and LB/UB mean = 5.46/8.11 lg/kg for PFOA). Excluding offal, the
mean concentration in the category ‘meat and meat products’ was LB/UB = 0.55/0.75 lg/kg for PFOS
and LB/UB = 0.10/0.34 lg/kg for PFOA. In edible offal from farmed animals, the concentration was for
PFOS (LB/UB mean) 0.66/2.12 lg/kg and for PFOA (LB/UB mean) 0.05/1.39 lg/kg. High levels were
also observed in ‘Fish and other seafood’ (LB/UB mean = 2.08/2.59 lg/kg for PFOS and LB/UB
mean = 0.18/0.90 lg/kg for PFOA.
For PFOS, the LB mean dietary exposure ranges from 1.26 (adolescents) to 20.86 (other children)
ng/kg body weight (bw) per week, across age groups and surveys. The high (95th percentile) LB
exposure ranges from 3.5 (adolescents) to 165.9 (other children) ng/kg bw per week. For PFOA, the
mean LB dietary exposure estimates range from 1.47 ng/kg bw per week (elderly and very elderly) up
to 18.27 ng/kg bw per week (toddlers). The high LB (95th percentile) exposures range from 3.43
(very elderly) to 37.59 (toddlers) ng/kg bw per week. The most important contributors to the LB mean
chronic exposure to PFOS, were ‘Fish and other seafood’ (contributing up to 86% in adults), especially
and dairy products’ (contributing up to 86% in toddlers, but based on only a few samples with
www.efsa.europa.eu/efsajournal 3 EFSA Journal 2018;16(12):5194
breastfeeding. The estimated half-life for PFOS in humans is approximately 5 years, whereas for PFOA,
several studies estimated a half-life between 2 and 4 years.
values reported as median concentrations in a number of studies was higher in adults (7.7 ng/mL)
compared to children (3.2 ng/mL), while the opposite was seen for PFOA, where the median of the
values reported as median concentrations was 1.9 and 3.3 ng/mL for adults and children, respectively.
The breast milk concentrations were usually around 0.9–2% and 1.8–9% of the maternal serum/plasma
relative liver weight were noted from 0.15 mg/kg bw per day and for PFOA, increased absolute and
relative liver weight and hepatic peroxisomal b-oxidation were noted at 0.64 mg/kg bw per day. From
(0.3 mg/kg bw per day), placental physiology (0.5 mg/kg bw per day) and on glucose homoeostasis
(0.3 mg/kg bw per day). Pathological alterations, following PFOA exposure, included increased liver
weight in pups and mothers following exposure at doses of 0.1 and 0.6 mg/kg bw per day, respectively.

Methods (brief)

PFOA are produced and are found in human and environmental samples. Liquid chromatography
coupled to quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) is commonly used to determine PFOS
and PFOA in both food and biological samples. Two major processes exist for production of PFOS and
An initial number of 21,411 results for food samples analysed for PFOS (n = 10,889) and PFOA
characterised by a high proportion of left-censored data (results below limit of detection (LOD)/limit of
quantiﬁcation (LOQ)) with 74% of left-censored data for PFOS and 91% of left-censored data for
and dairy products’ (contributing up to 86% in toddlers, but based on only a few samples with
With regard to information on human biomonitoring, PFOS and PFOA were detected in blood samples
1.3.2.2. Analytical methods for determination of PFASs in biological samples … 14
3.3.2.3. Levels in general European populations with serum or plasma samples collected from –and
and human samples (De Silva and Mabury, 2006), PFOS and PFOA are found as a mixture of the linear
in samples reported in environmental and human biomonitoring studies. Figure 1 displays linear and
measure PFASs in foods and environmental samples at the levels that are typically found. Because PFCAs
detector (Ylinen et al., 1985) or mass spectrometry (MS). Advances in LC coupled to quadrupole tandem
mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) with electrospray ionisation (ESI) have made this by far the most
measured and improvements in limits of detection (LODs) of up to three orders of magnitude (Hansen
undertaking analysis of food samples for PFASs, and measures such as inclusion of procedural blanks to
1.3.2.2. Analytical methods for determination of PFASs in biological samples

Implications

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Verification notes

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Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.

Commit	Date	Change	Description
3171d06	2026-08-02	major	1 section added
bc84bfc	2026-08-02	major	6 sections added; narrative text revised