This report presents the first EU-wide assessment of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in conventional cereal-based food products and reveals alarming levels of contamination across Europe. TFA is a highly persistent and reprotoxic chemical that currently escapes monitoring by food safety authorities, making these findings unprecedented at the EU level.
The investigation was conducted by the European Pesticide Action Network (PAN Europe) in collaboration with environmental NGOs across 16 European cereal-producing countries. Building on earlier evidence of TFA contamination in European water and wines, this study examined a range of cereal products. The results show that food, particularly staple crops, is a major pathway of human exposure to this persistent and toxic contaminant.
TFA is a highly stable degradation product of many fluorinated chemicals, including PFAS pesticides and F-gases used in refrigeration. Once released, it resists natural breakdown and accumulates in soil and water, earning its classification as a “forever chemical.” Earlier studies by PAN Europe have revealed significant TFA contamination in tap and mineral water across the EU. The present findings confirm that TFA’s presence also extends into cereal-based foods, suggesting pervasive environmental distribution and bioaccumulation in crops.
Key findings:
- Widespread contamination across Europe: TFA was detected in 81.8% of samples (54 out of 66 samples) across 16 European countries.
- High levels of TFA: the average TFA concentration was 78.9 μg/kg, with a median of 39.5 μg/kg and peak values of up to 360 μg/kg. Wheat products are significantly more contaminated than other cereal-based products.
- Food as the main exposure route: the average TFA concentration found across the samples, 78.9 μg/kg is 1071 times higher than the average TFA concentration in tap water, and 19.3 times higher than the highest detected level in our earlier water sampling.
- Exceedance of precautionary Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs). All 54 samples containing TFA exceeded the default MRL value of 0.01 mg/kg (10 μg/kg) for active substances that are classified as reprotoxic 1B. Even though TFA is a degradation product rather than a parent compound, the same high standards are expected.
- Exceedance of health-based safety value for children: the average TFA intake per product is more than a third (36.9%) of PAN Europe’s proposed Acceptable Daily Intake, calculated on the basis of the current evidence. When accounting for children’s total daily cereal consumption, exposure levels reach nearly twice this value (184.3%).
A previous PAN Europe’s report highlighted how industry actors have systematically downplayed evidence of TFA’s harmful effects. Yet, consistent toxicological findings indicate TFA’s impacts on foetal development and have prompted the classification of TFA as “toxic to reproduction” (category 1B) under EU Chemical Law. These studies also revealed adverse effects on thyroid and liver function, immune response, and sperm production. Meanwhile, the European Food Safety Authori ty (EFSA) has been tasked with revising its outdated and overly optimistic TFA risk assessment from 2014.
These findings provide compelling evidence that TFA has become deeply embedded in the European diet, demanding urgent regulatory action. PAN Europe calls for an immediate ban on PFAS pesticides, alongside a protective acceptable daily intake (ADI) that accounts for current toxicological uncertainties and vulnerable populations such as children, according to the precautionary principle. This should be complemented by EU-wide monitoring of TFA in food and the environment, as well as support for farmers to transition towards safer, non-synthetic crop protection methods.
