Beer drinkers may be exposing themselves to PFAS, especially if their brew has been made in parts of the country with contaminated water supplies.
That’s the finding of a research project reported in Environmental Science & Technology, a journal of the American Chemical Society (ACS). It found that most brewers use municipal water systems and, while they typically have water filtration and treatment systems, they are not designed to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often called forever chemicals, which have a suspected links to adverse health conditions.
By modifying a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency testing method for analyzing levels of PFAS in drinking water, research lead Jennifer Hoponick Redmon and colleagues from RTI International tested 23 beers. The test samples were produced by U.S. brewers in areas with documented water system contamination, plus popular domestic and international beers from larger companies with unknown water sources.
The researchers found a strong correlation between PFAS concentrations in municipal drinking water and levels in locally brewed beer — a phenomenon that Hoponick Redmon and colleagues say has not yet been studied in U.S. retail beer. They found PFAS in 95% of the beers they tested. These include perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), two forever chemicals with recently established EPA limits in drinking water.
Approximately 18% of breweries operating in the U.S. are located within zip codes served by public water supplies with detectable PFAS in drinking water, the report noted.
The research team found that a selection of the beers brewed in North Carolina, California and Michigan contained elevated levels of the PFAS. Notably, the team found that the beers brewed near the Cape Fear River Basin in North Carolina, an area with known PFAS pollution, had the highest levels and most diverse mix of forever chemicals, including PFOS and PFOA. One sample from Michigan was high, too.
None of the beer brands was named. But the report noted that the international beers tested — one from Holland and two from Mexico — were less likely to have detectable PFAS.
This work shows that PFAS contamination at one source can spread into other products, and the researchers call for greater awareness among brewers, consumers and regulators to limit overall PFAS exposure. These results also highlight the possible need for water treatment upgrades at brewing facilities as PFAS regulations in drinking water change or updates to municipal water system treatment are implemented.
See the report here.
