Assessment of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in commercially available drinking straws using targeted and suspect screening approaches

Abstract

Many food contact materials (FCMs) and reusable plastics in the food industry contain poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of synthetic pollutants that are known to be potentially harmful for wildlife, humans, and the environment. PFAS may migrate from FCMs to food consumed by humans. As a replacement for plastics, often paper and other plant-based materials are used in commercial settings. This also applies to drinking straws, where plant-based and other presumably eco-friendly straws are increasingly used to reduce plastic pollution. In order to make these materials water-repellent, PFAS are added during manufacturing but can also already be present early in the supply chain due to the use of contaminated raw materials. In the present study, we examined the PFAS concentrations in 39 different brands of straws, made from five materials (i.e. paper, bamboo, glass, stainless steel, and plastic) commercially available on the Belgian market. We combined both targeted and suspect-screening approaches to evaluate a wide range of PFAS. PFAS were found to be present in almost all types of straws, except for those made of stainless steel. PFAS were more frequently detected in plant-based materials, such as paper and bamboo. We did not observe many differences between the types of materials, or the continents of origin. The presence of PFAS in plant-based straws shows that they are not necessarily biodegradable and that the use of such straws potentially contributes to human and environmental exposure of PFAS.

Keywords:

• Food contact materials
• PFAS
• plant-based
• targeted analysis
• suspect screening
• eco-friendly

Author contributions

Pauline Boisacq: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing, Visualization; Maarten De Keuster: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing, Visualization; Els Prinsen: Conceptualization, Writing, Funding Acquisition; Yunsun Jeong: Formal analysis, Writing; Lieven Bervoets: Writing, Funding Acquisition; Marcel Eens: Writing, Funding Acquisition; Adrian Covaci: Writing; Tim Willems: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing; Thimo Groffen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Writing, Funding acquisition, Supervision.

Disclosure statement

All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. Hence, the authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available. The test data is restricted to the relevant personnel of the project and is not allowed to be disclosed to the public but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partly supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), grants [G018119N] and partly by the Exposome Centre of Excellence of the University of Antwerp (BOF grant, Antigoon database number 41222). TG is junior post-doctoral researcher of the FWO [grant nr. 12ZZQ21N].