PFAS pesticide residues found on 37% of conventionally grown California produce

California farming has a PFAS problem, with traces of “forever chemicals” from pesticides found on 37% of nearly a thousand samples of the state’s conventionally grown produce, according to a new analysis of 2023 data from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR).

The analysis, published March 11 by the Environment Working Group (EWG), found residue of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on 40 types of fruits and vegetables. Individual pieces of produce often contained multiple types of PFAS chemicals, with residues of 10 different PFAS found on strawberries, and over 90% of nectarines, plums and peaches testing for fludioxonil, a PFAS pesticide considered an endocrine disruptor by the European Food Safety Authority. 

Each year, 2.5 million pounds of PFAS pesticides are applied on California farmland, the authors found, potentially contaminating local soil and water. Almost half of the nation’s vegetables and over three-quarters of its fruits and nuts grown in California.

“We’re eating PFAS, drinking PFAS, breathing PFAS,” said Sakereh Maskal, Policy and Advocacy Lead for the Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network. “The chemical industry’s insatiable greed has turned all of our bodies into sacrifice zones for profit-driven motives.”

PFAS chemicals are prevalent in the environment worldwide, where they linger for years without breaking down, and in the bodies of humans and animals, with studies finding them in the blood of about 98% of Americans. Some PFAS have been linked to certain cancers, high cholesterol, decreased vaccine effectiveness and other health problems.

“At a time when Americans are demanding a healthier food system, we’re finding that core staples of a healthy diet are contaminated with chemicals linked to serious health harms,” Bernadette Del Chiaro, EWG’s senior vice president for California, said in a statement.

The findings come as the Trump administration’s regulatory actions on pesticides grow increasingly at odds with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. Last month, the administration cited national security reasons to justify calling for increased production of the controversial weed killer glyphosate, sold as Roundup, a move that infuriated MAHA movement members.

The EWG analysis follows the US Department of Agriculture’s December 2025 publication of its latest pesticide report, based on 2024 data, which found residue from at least one pesticide in over 57% of the nearly 10,000 food samples it tested, with less than 1% of products containing residues higher than the legal limit set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The group Beyond Pesticides criticized the EPA tolerances for failing to properly account for vulnerable populations such as farmworkers and children and exposure to mixtures of chemicals.

Increasing use of PFAS pesticides

Scientists and advocates say PFAS pesticides are an area of emerging concern, with recent research finding PFAS in the blood of fish in waters near agricultural and forested areas. A 2024 study found that PFAS are increasingly added to pesticides, with the chemicals now accounting for 14% of all pesticide active ingredients.

Independent testing results released in a separate analysis this week by the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) found multiple PFAS chemicals in the weed killer Indaziflam (sold as Rejuvra), which is applied to farm fields to control invasive grasses. The product is being sprayed on or considered for use on millions of acres of federal lands. 

“The discovery of toxic chemicals in a product intended for landscape-level use should set off alarm bells,” Chandra Rosenthal, PEER Public Lands Advocate, said in a statement. “Our public lands should not be exposed to chemicals whose impacts remain unknown.”

The EPA is currently considering requests from agriculture departments in Arkansas and Missouri to grant an emergency exemption for the PFAS pesticide tetflupyrolimet, which has not been registered by EPA – a move that would allow the chemical to be land applied with less regulatory scrutiny. The states are proposing to use the weed killer to control invasive Barnyardgrass, which dramatically lowers crop yields and has become resistant to several other weed killers. If granted, tetflupyrolimet could be used to treat up to 546,000 acres of rice in Arkansas and 100,000 acres in Missouri. 

“This is not an emergency situation,” said Sarah Alexander, executive director at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, noting that resistance to weed killers is a common, predictable issue in conventional agriculture and that organic farming alternatives exist.

“I think using emergency exemptions for PFAS pesticide approvals is a very dangerous precedent to set,” she said.

No decision has been made yet on the states’ emergency exemption requests, said the EPA. 

“Every action the Trump EPA takes is guided by the Rule of Law, Gold Standard Science, and Radical Transparency,” said an agency spokesperson.

Featured image by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash.