PFAS found in all produce samples tested from Long Island farms, new study finds

PFAS, the toxic “forever chemicals” linked to cancer and other serious health problems, were found in every produce sample tested in a new study of vegetables purchased from Long Island farms, alarming researchers and environmental advocates who say the findings point to a broader contamination problem in soil, water and food.

“This is not a farming problem. This is a societal problem,” Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said during a Zoom presentation on the study Thursday. “We are not blaming the farmers.”

Esposito stressed throughout the presentation that farmers did not cause the contamination and cannot solve it through changes in farming practices.

The study tested 23 samples of carrots, romaine lettuce, Boston lettuce and beets purchased in summer 2025 from eight farms on the North and South forks. Two of the farms were organic and six conventional. Researchers said all samples contained detectable levels of PFAS, a large class of synthetic chemicals used for decades in products designed to resist water, grease and stains.

PFAS — short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are often called “forever chemicals” because they do not readily break down in the environment. Kyla Bennett, science policy director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the chemicals share an extremely strong carbon-fluorine bond that makes them highly persistent, allowing them to accumulate in the environment and in the human body.

Bennett said PFAS have been used for decades in nonstick pans, carpets, waterproof clothing, food packaging and many other everyday products. As a result, the chemicals have moved into wastewater, septic systems, soil and water — and ultimately into the food chain.

She said studies have linked certain PFAS to kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, elevated cholesterol, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, pregnancy loss, preeclampsia and developmental effects in children. High PFAS levels in the blood may also weaken vaccine response, she said.

Researchers said carrots showed the highest concentrations among the produce tested. Kevin Schaefer, a senior research support specialist at Stony Brook University’s Center for Clean Water Technology, said “PFOS and GenX in carrots was considerably higher than we saw in any of the other vegetables.”

He said all four compounds the team highlighted in carrots exceeded EPA daily reference-dose levels. In lettuce, three compounds exceeded those levels. In beets, three did as well, though overall concentrations were generally lower than in carrots.

Researchers said the produce was collected using PFAS-free gloves and containers and delivered the same day to a Stony Brook laboratory, where it was frozen, processed and analyzed.

Esposito said the findings were disturbing, but stressed that the study was small and intended as an initial look at whether PFAS could be detected in locally grown produce.

“This was a small study,” she said. “This was meant to be a sample to see if there was something going on, to see if we had concerns.”

Even so, she said the findings should not be viewed as a uniquely Long Island issue.

“This is not a Long Island problem,” Esposito said. “This is a United States problem.”

That broader claim goes beyond the Long Island study itself, which does not identify a contamination source and is limited in size. But panelists said the findings are consistent with other evidence showing PFAS contamination is widespread in the environment.

Stephen Lasee, an environmental toxicologist with Lasee Research & Consulting, said PFAS can get into vegetables through multiple pathways, including contaminated soil, irrigation water, air deposition, fertilizers, pesticides and biosolids. He said the study did not determine which of those pathways may be responsible for the contamination found in the Long Island samples.

Panelists repeatedly cautioned against blaming farmers.

“This is not about farming practices. This is not about farmers,” Esposito said. “This particular chemical is very insidious. It has become ubiquitous in our environment, and it is not as a result of practices being conducted by farmers.”

Esposito also said there was no meaningful difference in this small sample between produce from organic and conventional farms.

Bennett said consumers have little power to eliminate PFAS from food once contamination is present. She urged people not to stop eating vegetables and said washing or cooking produce will not solve the problem.

“There’s nowhere you can escape this at this point,” she said.

Instead, panelists said, consumers can try to reduce PFAS exposure in other ways, such as using certified water filters and avoiding products made with PFAS. But Bennett and Esposito said the real solution must come from regulation, not individual choices.

“This should be an EPA issue,” Bennett said, urging federal regulators to address PFAS as a class rather than one chemical at a time and to ban nonessential uses.

Esposito pointed to pending state legislation that would ban PFAS in a range of consumer products, including textiles, rugs, cookware, architectural paints, ski waxes, children’s products, anti-fogging sprays and wipes, dental floss and cleaning products.

Panelists also said the United States lacks enforceable standards for PFAS in food, leaving regulators and consumers without a clear benchmark for what level of contamination is acceptable in produce.

To support their argument that the problem extends well beyond Long Island, speakers pointed to a 2023 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation rural soil study that found PFOS in 97% of surface soil samples and PFOA in 76% of samples collected from remote properties across the state.

Scientists do not agree that every PFAS compound poses the same level of danger, and improved testing has made it possible to detect these chemicals at far lower levels than in the past. But federal health and environmental agencies say the evidence is strong that some widely studied PFAS are hazardous and that contamination is genuinely widespread.

Esposito said the study should be seen as an early warning and a call for more research and stronger regulation.