People in the Netherlands have been advised not to eat home-produced eggs because of high amounts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) said it is not possible to tell the amount of PFAS in an egg from a visual inspection. It is as yet unclear how these chemicals end up in home-produced eggs and if anything can be done about it. A national investigation is being conducted to get more information about the possible sources of PFAS in home-produced eggs. Results are expected in the second half of 2025.
PFAS are a large group of synthetic chemicals that have been widely used in industrial applications and consumer products. They have raised environmental and public health concerns, because of their persistence in the environment and potential to bioaccumulate in living organisms.
Follow-up on initial concerns
Commercially produced eggs bought in shops or from markets are safe to eat, as they contain much lower amounts of PFAS. Home-produced eggs are laid by chickens that people keep as a hobby, for example in their own garden or in a field, farm, or petting zoo.
In 2024, the Office of Risk Assessment and Research (BuRO) of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) published a risk assessment of PFAS in home-produced eggs. BuRO showed that such eggs from other regions in the Netherlands could also contain high PFAS concentrations and may pose a health risk when consumed.
As these findings were based on eggs collected more than 10 years ago, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport asked RIVM to investigate the current concentrations of PFAS in home-produced eggs.
The RIVM risk assessment was prompted by the 2024 discovery of significant amounts of PFAS in eggs laid by privately owned chickens near the Chemours chemical plant in the province of South Holland. The types of PFAS found in these eggs differed from the ones used at the plant. This raised questions about the situation in the rest of the country.
The study focused on people who keep chickens as a hobby, so only included those who owned fewer than 10 birds. Participants were asked to send 5 to 10 eggs, collected in August 2024, to Wageningen Food Safety Research (WFSR) and they were analyzed for 18 PFAS.
How many eggs are safe to eat per week?
RIVM calculated the amounts of PFAS people could potentially ingest by eating home-produced eggs from 60 locations across the Netherlands. The agency then compared these amounts with the health-based guidance value for PFAS. If people ingest more PFAS than this guidance value over a long period of time, it can be harmful to health. The health-based guidance value is 4.4 nanograms per kilogram body weight per week and is based on adverse effects of PFAS on the immune system.
At 31 locations, it was found that people ingested more PFAS than the health-based guidance value if they only ate one egg or less per week. At 10 locations, people could eat at most one egg per week without exceeding this value. At nine sites, people could eat more than four eggs per week without exceeding the guidance value.
In the study, PFAS were analyzed in raw eggs but it is not certain what impact the preparation of eggs before consumption has on the presence of PFAS.
RIVM said exposure to PFAS through food and drinking water is already high and is added to by the amounts that people ingest by eating home-produced eggs.
“These results show that, in most cases, the exposure to PFAS through food and drinking water increases significantly when home-produced eggs are consumed and can add substantially to an already high exposure to PFAS through other food and drinking water. Whether these effects will actually occur also depends on factors such as lifestyle, including diet and exercise, and individual differences in susceptibility to diseases,” researchers reported.
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