Strategies to address monitoring and compliance testing of PFAS in food

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been a hot topic for the past few years, and substances of interest for decades.

Recently, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) established tolerable weekly intakes for four PFAS substances, leading to maximum limits within the European Union for these compounds in fish, meat, and eggs. This development means that robust and sensitive analytical methods for PFASs are in high demand.

Wageningen Food Safety Research (WFSR) has developed several methods to serve the different purposes of PFAS analysis: official food control, monitoring at low levels for risk assessments, and research into additional substances and matrices. In this webinar, Dr. Kerstin Krätschmer and Dr. Richard Jack will give an overview of the methods, common challenges, the validation scheme described in the guidance document published by the European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL) for POPs in feed and food, and some analysis results in food and produce from the Netherlands.

Key learning objectives

• Learn about PFAS sample preparation and analysis challenges from food matrices

• Understand how to ensure performance requirements for European Reference Laboratory requirements

Who should attend?

• Scientists and lab technicians involved in PFAS analysis

• Food safety analysts

• Food manufacturers that wish to learn more about PFAS analysis

Presenter: Kerstin Krätschmer, PhD (Wageningen Food Safety Research)

Dr. Kerstin Krätschmer is a state examined food chemist who studied food chemistry (MSc) at Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany and completed legal training at the State Institute for Chemical and Veterinary Analysis Krefeld (CVUA-RRW) and the Consumer Protection Authority Düsseldorf. After finishing her PhD at the European Union Reference Laboratory for halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Freiburg and University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany, she became project leader of the National Reference Laboratory for halogenated POPs of the Netherlands at Wageningen Food Safety Research. Her main focus lies on POPs in food and feed, but also includes potential food safety risks within the circular economy.

Presenter: Dr. Richard Jack (Phenomenex, Inc.)

Dr. Richard Jack is the Global Market Development manager for the environmental and food markets at Phenomenex corporation. He has over 18 years’ experience with chromatography and mass spectrometry for the environmental, semiconductor, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. He is a former EPA Scientific Advisor for the EPA’s panel on Hydraulic Fracturing, a coauthor for EPA 557 and 557.1 along with ASTM D8001 and updates to D4327 and D6919 methods. He is currently the Second Vice Chairman for the ASTM D19 subcommittee on water analysis. He received his PhD in biochemistry and anaerobic microbiology from Virginia Tech University, USA and he has a Master’s in ecology from the University of Tennessee.

Presenter: Ellen Simms (Assistant Editor, SelectScienc)

Ellen studied biological sciences at the University of the West of England, UK, before completing a master's in epidemiology from the University of Bristol. As a member of the Editorial team, she now plays an integral role in shaping the content on SelectScience.