Can PFAS from sewage sludge used as fertilizer get into the food supply and cause cancer?

What's actually in it

Sewage treatment plants process wastewater and produce a byproduct called biosolids. Biosolids contain human waste, industrial runoff, and everything flushed or washed down drains. PFAS chemicals from personal care products, cleaning products, food packaging, and industrial sources end up concentrated in biosolids.

Biosolids are widely applied to US farmland as fertilizer because they're nutrient-rich and cheaper to apply than alternatives. The problem: PFAS don't break down in soil. They move from soil into plant roots and up into the edible parts of crops. Crops grown on PFAS-contaminated land carry PFAS into the food supply.

What the research says

A 2026 analysis in Lancet Oncol assessed the cancer risk from PFAS in biosolids applied to US food supply farmland. The estimated exposures through food grown on biosolid-treated land exceeded acceptable cancer risk thresholds in analyses of existing PFAS contamination data.

The concern is cumulative. People don't eat food from a single farm. They eat produce, grains, and animal products sourced from farms across the country, many of which have received biosolid applications over years or decades. PFAS persist in soil for decades, so contamination from past applications continues to affect crops today.

There's no label on produce that tells you whether it was grown on biosolid-treated land. Buying certified organic reduces exposure because organic certification prohibits biosolid use. It doesn't eliminate all PFAS risk (contamination can come from groundwater and air), but it removes this specific high-exposure pathway.