State Officials Find Forever Chemicals in Beef From Michigan
It's a cause for concern for many reasons

Alarming news for beef fans.
Leon Ephraïm/Unsplash

BY TOBIAS CARROLL

Can one have a timely warning about something that endures for centuries? The increasing levels of concern over forever chemicals polluting different food supplies — including fish in Lake Superior — are one more effect of pollution to be concerned about.

The chemicals, known as PFASs, earned their nickname because, by and large, they don’t break down in natural environments. There are some sources of pollution that can be managed or minimized when placed in the right environment. These? Not so much. And they have a tendency to get into the food we eat.

A new report at The Guardian has more details on the latest instance of PFASs detected in the United States. In this case, it involves a number of cattle being raised in Michigan. Authorities in the state say that the incident is isolated. That’s the good news; the bad news is that the farm where the contaminated beef was found sold beef to schools and farmers markets prior to the forever chemicals being detected.

At issue here is the practice of using sewage sludge as fertilizer, which some environmental advocates have expressed concern over due to the potential for a scenario exactly like this one. A 2020 report from the Greenpeace-funded journal Unearthed found a host of toxic chemicals in sewage sludge used as fertilizer on English farmland — a fact that’s alarming in its consequences.