Where is PFAS found? The complete list

Reading time: about 8 minutes

What exactly is PFAS?

These two properties together explain the whole story. Manufacturers use PFAS precisely because the substances work so well: a pan nothing sticks to, a coat that rain slides off. And exactly because they are so stable, they never disappear again from the soil, the water or our bodies.

If you first want to know how this group of substances works before going through the product list, read our explanation of what forever chemicals are and why they do not break down.

Where is PFAS found? By category

The RIVM names seven product groups in which PFAS is used: lubricants, food packaging materials, firefighting foam, non-stick coatings on pans, clothing, textiles and cosmetics. Milieu Centraal (the Dutch consumer organisation for environmental issues) keeps a more extensive list.

The GGD (Dutch regional public health service) makes a useful distinction between bound and loose PFAS. Loose PFAS is found in, among other things, firefighting foam, impregnating agents for clothing and furniture, ski wax and lubricants, and is released during use. In a pan with a non-stick coating, the substance is bound within the coating for as long as it stays intact.

Where is PFAS found in food and drink?

This is the part that surprises most people. You do not mainly take in PFAS through your pan, but through your plate. According to calculations by the RIVM, summarised by the Voedingscentrum (Dutch Nutrition Centre), people in the Netherlands take in more than three times as much PFAS through food as through drinking water.

• Fish: the biggest source. Fish from open water and the sea in particular can contain relatively high amounts of PFAS.
• Eggs: especially from chickens kept in home gardens, because they forage in soil that may be contaminated.
• Meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit: small amounts, spread across many products.
• Coffee, tea and grain products: PFAS has also been found in these, at low concentrations.
• Tap water: small amounts, depending on the source your water utility draws from.

The NVWA (Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority) tracks how much PFAS is measured in food. At PureFilter we see that readers are often alarmed by the sheer size of the list, while the honest conclusion is more nuanced: it involves low concentrations from many sources at once, not one single product you need to avoid.

Is PFAS found in plastic?

Sometimes, but far from all plastic. PFAS is used as a coating or processing aid, for example in grease-repellent food packaging and in certain technical plastics. Ordinary packaging plastic, such as a PET bottle or a sandwich bag, generally does not contain PFAS.

Note that PFAS is not the same as microplastics. Those are small plastic particles, not a chemical group. We wrote separately about microplastics in tap water and how they end up there.

Where does PFAS come from and how does it get into the soil?

According to the RIVM, PFAS enters the environment through the air and through wastewater from factories that use or manufacture the substances. It is also released when products are used, for example when firefighting foam is deployed during a fire or a training exercise.

Once in the soil, PFAS spreads further through groundwater and surface water. That explains why concentrations differ per area: around known source locations they are higher than elsewhere. On the PFAS map of the Netherlands you can look up how things stand in your region.

Is PFAS found in Dutch tap water?

Yes, in small amounts, and how much varies by area. Dutch tap water meets the legal standards and is strictly monitored. At the same time, based on research from 2021, the RIVM states that people in the Netherlands take in too much PFAS through food and drinking water combined.

Both things are true, and that is exactly where the confusion arises. Your tap water is safe according to the standard, and at the same time it is one of the sources you can actually do something about yourself. You can change little about the fish in the supermarket; about the tap in your kitchen, you can.

What can you do about it at home?

For most of the categories above, it comes down to choosing: a pan without a non-stick coating, cosmetics without fluorine compounds, a coat with a different water-repellent coating. For your drinking water it is different, because there you can filter it right at the point it enters your kitchen.

Which approach fits which situation?

For any filter, pay attention to certification rather than marketing claims. The NSF 42, 53, 61 and 372 standards each test different things: taste and chlorine, health-related reduction, material safety and lead-free components. The PureFilter Mineral+ is certified on all four. Which filter type makes sense for your situation is set out in the complete overview of water filter types, and specifically for this group of substances we have a separate page on which water filter removes PFAS from tap water.

A filter cartridge lasts 15,000 to 20,000 litres. For a household of 1 to 3 people, that works out to roughly a year; for 4 to 6 people, roughly half a year. Converted, you stay under one cent per litre, compared with €0.40 to €1.00 for a litre of bottled water. Anyone who would rather not think about the replacement moment can have the filters sent automatically through the Filterplan, for €48.00 or €86.00 per delivery.

What does not contain PFAS?

Materials without a coating are the safe category: stainless steel, cast iron, glass, ceramic and untreated wood. A cast-iron frying pan has no non-stick coating and therefore no PFAS. The same goes for a glass water jug or a stainless-steel drinking bottle.

Be critical of the term PFAS-free on packaging. That claim is not legally protected and says nothing about the rest of the production chain. It is better to look at the material itself: no coating means no coating chemistry. For that reason, our fixed under-sink filters contain no plastic coating in the water path.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

The question where is PFAS found has no short answer, because the list runs from your frying pan to your plate. The honest picture: by far the most comes in through food, and according to the Voedingscentrum more than three times as much as through drinking water. That does not make tap water the biggest source, but it is the source where you can most easily change something at home.

If you choose to filter, look at certification rather than promises. NSF 42, 53, 61 and 372 together state what a filter has actually been tested for. And pay attention to what is still in your water after filtering: at PureFilter we use Swedish Mineral Rock™ to add back calcium, magnesium and potassium, so your water stays not only clean but also full of flavour.