Chief Science Officer AOAC International Rockville, Maryland, United States
Abstract: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large class of synthetic chemicals that have been used in industry and consumer products worldwide for decades. They have become of increased concern in the recent years due to their persistence in the environment, bioaccumulation and health risks associated with human exposure to PFAS, including food consumption. PFAS could be present in food due to environmental contamination or migration from food contact materials.
Analysis of PFAS in foods poses many challenges due to the potential number of analytes, their properties, very low concentration levels that are being targeted, background PFAS contamination and the variety of food matrices that should be analyzed. These analytical issues have raised concerns about applicability and reliability of used methods, which brought together a group of stakeholders to initiate a new standard development project at AOAC INTERNATIONAL to develop a voluntary consensus standard for PFAS in food to meet the EU regulations and other testing needs. AOAC INTERNATIONAL has established a working group that will develop one or more Standard Method Performance Requirements (SMPRs) to guide method development for a prioritized list of PFAS in selected important food matrices with defined limits of quantitation (LOQ).
This presentation will provide background information about PFAS occurrence in foods, focusing on foods of interest to the AOCS community, discuss analytical challenges and known solutions, and highlight the activities of the AOAC PFAS working group and next steps in this standard development initiative.