SACRAMENTO: A new analysis of California residue testing data found that 37% of conventional fruits and vegetables grown in the state carried residues from PFAS pesticides, adding new attention to a class of chemicals that has become a major issue in food and environmental oversight. The Environmental Working Group said it reviewed 930 state-tested samples from 78 types of California-grown produce collected in 2023 and found PFAS pesticide residues in 348 samples, spanning 40 of the produce categories examined.
The crops with the highest detection rates were stone fruits and berries. The analysis said more than 90% of sampled nectarines, plums and peaches carried the fungicide fludioxonil, while cherries, strawberries and grapes each showed PFAS pesticide detections in 80% or more of samples. Strawberries stood out for the number of different compounds found, with residues from 10 PFAS pesticides identified in the tested samples, according to the review of state monitoring results.
The findings were drawn from California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation monitoring program, which collected 3,544 produce samples from more than 500 businesses statewide in 2023. In its annual report, the department said more than 97% of all fruits and vegetables sampled in California had either no detectable pesticide residues or residues below federal safety limits. For produce labeled as grown in California, the department said 99% of samples were below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tolerance levels.
Methodology and regulatory context
State regulators have also cautioned against treating the sampling program as a direct snapshot of all produce sold in the state. The department says its residue data are not statistically representative for any single pesticide, commodity or place of origin because inspectors focus on commodities considered higher risk, including items commonly eaten by children and produce with a history of illegal residues. California’s contracted laboratories analyze samples for more than 500 pesticides and related breakdown products.
In guidance issued on March 20, the department said a pesticide detection alone does not establish a health concern and noted that PFAS definitions differ across agencies. California officials said the EPA’s 2023 definition requires at least two adjacent fully fluorinated carbon atoms, while broader definitions used by some researchers and advocacy groups can include chemicals with a single fully fluorinated carbon. That distinction has become a central issue in how PFAS pesticides are counted and regulated.
Legislation moves ahead
The produce findings are now feeding into legislation at the Capitol. Assembly Bill 1603, introduced in January and amended on March 19, would prohibit California from registering or reregistering pesticides with intentionally added PFAS ingredients. The bill would also require warning language on labels beginning in 2028, ban a list of specified PFAS pesticides beginning in 2030, and prohibit the use, manufacture and sale of pesticides containing intentionally added PFAS starting in 2035.
The bill text cites the same 37% figure, as well as a recent estimate that about 2.5 million pounds of active ingredient PFAS pesticides are applied to California crops each year and nearly 15 million pounds were used statewide from 2018 through 2023. AB 1603 is scheduled for an April 14 hearing before the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, bringing the residue findings and the state’s broader pesticide oversight framework before lawmakers in Sacramento. – By Content Syndication Services.