EXPLAINER
Concern over pesticides, PFAS “forever chemicals”, cadmium and other contaminants has been on the rise since a March report revealed French residents are up to four times more likely to register unsafe levels of cadmium than their European counterparts. For many, reducing exposure to these chemicals has become a priority – but also a source of anxiety. We spoke to two women campaigning to raise awareness of toxins in food.
Issued on: 01/08/2026 -
FRANCE24
By: Cyrielle CABOT
Members of the agricultural unions FDSEA 72 and Jeunes Agriculteurs (JA) farmer unions, remove from shelves goods containing some acetamiprid, a neonicotinoid pesticide, during a protest operation at a supermarket in Mundolsheim, on August 20, 2025.
© Frederick Florin, AFP
FRANCE 24 is launching a series of articles this week that examines the cocktail of contaminants increasingly found in everyday food.
A few months ago, Laura* was quietly scrolling through her social media feeds when a word she’d never heard before started to pop up: “cadmium”. “I’d never heard of it before,” recalls the 41-year-old Parisian, who works as a communications director. “When I realised what it was – a heavy metal that’s harmful to our health and found in lots of the foods we eat every day – I felt an immediate wave of anxiety.”
She said that literally overnight, all the packets of pasta, biscuits and rice that were in her kitchen cupboards – and that she had barely paid any attention to until then – had become “potentially harmful” to her, her husband and their three children.
“I’d heard about pesticides, endocrine disruptors and so on, but I didn’t really pay much attention to them. Cadmium was a real eye-opener,” she says. “I began to take a serious interest in food contamination and realised the scale of the risk and how important it is to choose our food carefully for the sake of our health.”
READ MORE‘Public health time bomb’: How France allowed cadmium to poison its crops and soil
In recent years, there has been a spate of food controversies: mercury in tuna, cadmium in pasta, potatoes and chocolate, hexane in certain oils, pervasive organic pollutants (PFAS) in seafood, pesticides in fruit and vegetables. These are all things Laura now tries to be mindful of.
Christine, a single mother and childcare worker from Savoie, started paying closer attention to what was on her plate when her first daughter was born six years ago. “I wanted to make sure I was giving her the best, both during breastfeeding and afterwards,” she says. “I tried to avoid ultra-processed foods and opted for organic products where possible, to avoid pesticides.”
Like Laura, she was shocked by the revelations about cadmium. “All this time, I’d never paid any attention to pasta, rice or bread. I had no idea.”
Radical dietary changes
Keen to rid their diets of as many contaminants as possible, Laura and Christine set themselves the same mission: to be extra vigilant about what they and their families eat. But having to shake up their eating habits has caused huge headaches when it comes to day-to-day grocery shopping.
As a first step, the women banned the most harmful foods from their shopping lists, even if it meant fewer foods actually made it onto their shopping lists compared to their “banned” lists.
At Christine’s house, salmon is off the menu due to mercury contamination, as is chocolate from Africa and pasta made in France because of cadmium. Instead, they opt for lentils and other pulses, fruit and vegetables bought from local producers, and meat that is, where possible, locally sourced.
READ MOREFrench population overexposed to cadmium through food, health agency says
Secondly, they have tried to prioritise products they consider healthier. When shopping, the women follow the same well-rehearsed routine. Smartphone in hand, they wander the aisles and compulsively scan every label using the Yuka app, which rates food and beauty products based on nutritional quality, additives and whether ingredients are organic. Products from different brands are meticulously compared; the “least worst” option is almost always chosen, and anything classified as red or orange – which is considered “harmful” – is immediately placed back on the shelf.
“And whenever possible, I make things from scratch,” says Laura. “Because that’s the best way to be sure of what we’re eating.”
The third step in their strategy has involved balancing all this against another important factor – price. Although Laura admits she’s fairly well-off, “with five mouths to feed, every penny counts”. She estimates that her food budget has increased by around €350 a month since she decided to change her habits.
“In the end, I find myself buying some food from organic shops, some from the supermarket, and certain fruit and vegetables from the greengrocer,” Laura says. “I base everything on the best value for money. It takes ages.”
She acknowledges that, despite her best efforts, the increase in household expenditure is having an impact on daily life.
“We’ve had to cut back on holidays. We’ll be going away for a shorter time this summer. And we’ve cancelled our annual weekend away over the May bank holidays.”
For lower income households with even tighter budgets, eating better sometimes means compromising on both quality and quantity. “I live alone with my two daughters. And eating well is expensive. So, unfortunately, sometimes I have to settle for ‘lower-quality food’ because I can’t afford the best,” Christine says. “But I try as much as possible to prioritise quality over quantity, even if it means I don’t get to eat enough.”
‘The agri-food industry is distancing us from what we eat’
Eating without risk of exposure to harmful chemicals has become a top priority for many consumers. According to the study “La France à table”, published in June 2025 by the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, 40 percent of French people believe that the quality of food products has deteriorated over the past five years while 22 percent feel it has deteriorated substantially.
By no means a new trend, the results nevertheless reflect declining consumer confidence in food, says Sophie Thiron, a food sociologist and senior lecturer at Jean-Jaurès University in Toulouse.
“It is rooted in a long history of food controversies from the past. As early as 1905, the media was blowing the whistle on the dairy industry, which was selling adulterated milk as pure milk. In more recent times, there was mad cow disease in 1996 and the horse meat scandal of 2013,” Thiron notes.
WATCHFrance overexposed to heavy metal cadmium due to food
“The revelations about cadmium, like those about pesticides before them, simply add to an already fertile ground of consumer concerns about what ends up on our plates,” she says. “And, in this case, it’s been further amplified by the widespread media coverage and health warnings from the scientific community.”
But Thiron believes that, at its root, all this wariness stems from the same problem: “The agri-food industry is distancing us from what we eat. We have less and less information about the origins or ingredients in our food. This gives the impression that we are not in control.”
Today, she acknowledges, there are several other factors exacerbating the situation. “Beyond the health aspect, more and more people are also thinking about their diet in terms of its impact on the environment or animal welfare.”
Added to this, she says, is the growing difficulty of “making sense of it all”.
“People are bombarded with messages – particularly from influencers – about what they should and shouldn’t eat, with information that is sometimes completely contradictory. It’s becoming very difficult to sort through it all, and everyone is overwhelmed.”
Anxiety and mental strain
For Laura and Christine, the constant need to weigh up every purchase has also become a source of anxiety.
“But all this anxiety is mainly linked to my daughters,” Christine explains. “Sometimes it keeps me awake at night. I feel as though I’m constantly thinking about it. I’m afraid of exposing them [to these contaminants] without even realising it,” she says.
“Especially as we know that no matter how hard we try, it’s impossible to protect ourselves completely. There are too many sources of contamination. There’s a saying, ‘We live to eat’. But I feel as though, whatever we do, we ‘eat to die’.”
WATCHToxic beginnings: Babies exposed to pesticides in the womb
“And beyond the logistics, constantly having to think about the best option when you want to eat something takes so much mental energy. It’s exhausting,” Laura says.
Although concerns about food safety cut across all demographics, women – particularly young mothers like Christine and Laura – appear to be especially affected. "Unfortunately, this reflects a broader societal issue: the responsibility for their children's health – and often that of their partners – still falls disproportionately on women," Thiron says.
This was highlighted when FRANCE 24 invited readers to share their experiences for this article and received responses exclusively from women.
"Contrary to popular belief, this anxiety affects the middle class just as much as the working class," Thiron adds. "It simply manifests itself differently. Middle-class households are more likely to respond by changing their purchasing habits in every way they can. Lower-income households, meanwhile, are often more inclined to distance themselves from the issue because they know they have fewer options.”
Grassroots campaign
Over time, however, the anxiety and frustration both women felt gave rise to a shared determination to push for political change.
"What we can do as individuals quickly reaches its limits. We need [collective] action so that politicians finally take this issue seriously and make it a priority," Christine says.
Laura admits that, until relatively recently, she "wasn't the slightest bit eco-conscious". She now describes herself as having made a "complete U-turn".
"I realised this was the root of the problem. Now I regularly hand out leaflets with environmental groups to raise awareness about pesticides and cadmium in particular," she says.
WATCHNew French bill aims to teach children how to eat better
Their campaigning has already gained political traction. On June 3, following months of public pressure, France’s National Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill aimed at reducing the population’s exposure to cadmium. The legislation, however, was adopted against the government’s advice and must still be approved by the Senate before becoming law.
Looking ahead, both women say policies to reduce exposure to food contaminants will be a key factor in how they vote in France’s upcoming presidential election. Laura says that, if little changes, she has even considered leaving the country.
“To the Nordic countries? Elsewhere? In any case, somewhere where there’s a clear political commitment to tackling these contaminants and [where the government] is more proactive. My children’s health is at stake.”
* Names have been changed
This article is an adaptation from the original in French by Nicole Trian.
FRANCE 24 is launching a series of articles this week that examines the cocktail of contaminants increasingly found in everyday food.
A few months ago, Laura* was quietly scrolling through her social media feeds when a word she’d never heard before started to pop up: “cadmium”. “I’d never heard of it before,” recalls the 41-year-old Parisian, who works as a communications director. “When I realised what it was – a heavy metal that’s harmful to our health and found in lots of the foods we eat every day – I felt an immediate wave of anxiety.”
She said that literally overnight, all the packets of pasta, biscuits and rice that were in her kitchen cupboards – and that she had barely paid any attention to until then – had become “potentially harmful” to her, her husband and their three children.
“I’d heard about pesticides, endocrine disruptors and so on, but I didn’t really pay much attention to them. Cadmium was a real eye-opener,” she says. “I began to take a serious interest in food contamination and realised the scale of the risk and how important it is to choose our food carefully for the sake of our health.”
READ MORE‘Public health time bomb’: How France allowed cadmium to poison its crops and soil
In recent years, there has been a spate of food controversies: mercury in tuna, cadmium in pasta, potatoes and chocolate, hexane in certain oils, pervasive organic pollutants (PFAS) in seafood, pesticides in fruit and vegetables. These are all things Laura now tries to be mindful of.
Christine, a single mother and childcare worker from Savoie, started paying closer attention to what was on her plate when her first daughter was born six years ago. “I wanted to make sure I was giving her the best, both during breastfeeding and afterwards,” she says. “I tried to avoid ultra-processed foods and opted for organic products where possible, to avoid pesticides.”
Like Laura, she was shocked by the revelations about cadmium. “All this time, I’d never paid any attention to pasta, rice or bread. I had no idea.”
Radical dietary changes
Keen to rid their diets of as many contaminants as possible, Laura and Christine set themselves the same mission: to be extra vigilant about what they and their families eat. But having to shake up their eating habits has caused huge headaches when it comes to day-to-day grocery shopping.
As a first step, the women banned the most harmful foods from their shopping lists, even if it meant fewer foods actually made it onto their shopping lists compared to their “banned” lists.
At Christine’s house, salmon is off the menu due to mercury contamination, as is chocolate from Africa and pasta made in France because of cadmium. Instead, they opt for lentils and other pulses, fruit and vegetables bought from local producers, and meat that is, where possible, locally sourced.
READ MOREFrench population overexposed to cadmium through food, health agency says
Secondly, they have tried to prioritise products they consider healthier. When shopping, the women follow the same well-rehearsed routine. Smartphone in hand, they wander the aisles and compulsively scan every label using the Yuka app, which rates food and beauty products based on nutritional quality, additives and whether ingredients are organic. Products from different brands are meticulously compared; the “least worst” option is almost always chosen, and anything classified as red or orange – which is considered “harmful” – is immediately placed back on the shelf.
“And whenever possible, I make things from scratch,” says Laura. “Because that’s the best way to be sure of what we’re eating.”
The third step in their strategy has involved balancing all this against another important factor – price. Although Laura admits she’s fairly well-off, “with five mouths to feed, every penny counts”. She estimates that her food budget has increased by around €350 a month since she decided to change her habits.
“In the end, I find myself buying some food from organic shops, some from the supermarket, and certain fruit and vegetables from the greengrocer,” Laura says. “I base everything on the best value for money. It takes ages.”
She acknowledges that, despite her best efforts, the increase in household expenditure is having an impact on daily life.
“We’ve had to cut back on holidays. We’ll be going away for a shorter time this summer. And we’ve cancelled our annual weekend away over the May bank holidays.”
For lower income households with even tighter budgets, eating better sometimes means compromising on both quality and quantity. “I live alone with my two daughters. And eating well is expensive. So, unfortunately, sometimes I have to settle for ‘lower-quality food’ because I can’t afford the best,” Christine says. “But I try as much as possible to prioritise quality over quantity, even if it means I don’t get to eat enough.”
‘The agri-food industry is distancing us from what we eat’
Eating without risk of exposure to harmful chemicals has become a top priority for many consumers. According to the study “La France à table”, published in June 2025 by the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, 40 percent of French people believe that the quality of food products has deteriorated over the past five years while 22 percent feel it has deteriorated substantially.
By no means a new trend, the results nevertheless reflect declining consumer confidence in food, says Sophie Thiron, a food sociologist and senior lecturer at Jean-Jaurès University in Toulouse.
“It is rooted in a long history of food controversies from the past. As early as 1905, the media was blowing the whistle on the dairy industry, which was selling adulterated milk as pure milk. In more recent times, there was mad cow disease in 1996 and the horse meat scandal of 2013,” Thiron notes.
WATCHFrance overexposed to heavy metal cadmium due to food
“The revelations about cadmium, like those about pesticides before them, simply add to an already fertile ground of consumer concerns about what ends up on our plates,” she says. “And, in this case, it’s been further amplified by the widespread media coverage and health warnings from the scientific community.”
But Thiron believes that, at its root, all this wariness stems from the same problem: “The agri-food industry is distancing us from what we eat. We have less and less information about the origins or ingredients in our food. This gives the impression that we are not in control.”
Today, she acknowledges, there are several other factors exacerbating the situation. “Beyond the health aspect, more and more people are also thinking about their diet in terms of its impact on the environment or animal welfare.”
Added to this, she says, is the growing difficulty of “making sense of it all”.
“People are bombarded with messages – particularly from influencers – about what they should and shouldn’t eat, with information that is sometimes completely contradictory. It’s becoming very difficult to sort through it all, and everyone is overwhelmed.”
Anxiety and mental strain
For Laura and Christine, the constant need to weigh up every purchase has also become a source of anxiety.
“But all this anxiety is mainly linked to my daughters,” Christine explains. “Sometimes it keeps me awake at night. I feel as though I’m constantly thinking about it. I’m afraid of exposing them [to these contaminants] without even realising it,” she says.
“Especially as we know that no matter how hard we try, it’s impossible to protect ourselves completely. There are too many sources of contamination. There’s a saying, ‘We live to eat’. But I feel as though, whatever we do, we ‘eat to die’.”
WATCHToxic beginnings: Babies exposed to pesticides in the womb
“And beyond the logistics, constantly having to think about the best option when you want to eat something takes so much mental energy. It’s exhausting,” Laura says.
Although concerns about food safety cut across all demographics, women – particularly young mothers like Christine and Laura – appear to be especially affected. "Unfortunately, this reflects a broader societal issue: the responsibility for their children's health – and often that of their partners – still falls disproportionately on women," Thiron says.
This was highlighted when FRANCE 24 invited readers to share their experiences for this article and received responses exclusively from women.
"Contrary to popular belief, this anxiety affects the middle class just as much as the working class," Thiron adds. "It simply manifests itself differently. Middle-class households are more likely to respond by changing their purchasing habits in every way they can. Lower-income households, meanwhile, are often more inclined to distance themselves from the issue because they know they have fewer options.”
Grassroots campaign
Over time, however, the anxiety and frustration both women felt gave rise to a shared determination to push for political change.
"What we can do as individuals quickly reaches its limits. We need [collective] action so that politicians finally take this issue seriously and make it a priority," Christine says.
Laura admits that, until relatively recently, she "wasn't the slightest bit eco-conscious". She now describes herself as having made a "complete U-turn".
"I realised this was the root of the problem. Now I regularly hand out leaflets with environmental groups to raise awareness about pesticides and cadmium in particular," she says.
WATCHNew French bill aims to teach children how to eat better
Their campaigning has already gained political traction. On June 3, following months of public pressure, France’s National Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill aimed at reducing the population’s exposure to cadmium. The legislation, however, was adopted against the government’s advice and must still be approved by the Senate before becoming law.
Looking ahead, both women say policies to reduce exposure to food contaminants will be a key factor in how they vote in France’s upcoming presidential election. Laura says that, if little changes, she has even considered leaving the country.
“To the Nordic countries? Elsewhere? In any case, somewhere where there’s a clear political commitment to tackling these contaminants and [where the government] is more proactive. My children’s health is at stake.”
* Names have been changed
This article is an adaptation from the original in French by Nicole Trian.
How can you keep yourself safe from forever chemicals and cadmium in food? (Part 2/2)
LONG READ
Food-related health warnings have become increasingly frequent in recent years, to the point where maintaining a diet free of contaminants can seem almost impossible. So what’s the best way to limit your exposure, and will there ever be a way to fully remove these harmful pollutants from our blood? FRANCE 24 breaks it down in part 2 of our 2-part series.
Issued on: 01/08/2026
FRANCE24
By: Cyrielle CABOT
PFAS and cadmium: How to avoid ingesting (too much) poison. © Studio graphique France Médias Monde
Cadmium, forever chemicals… these contaminants poison the food we eat. From the anxieties these chemicals breed in the public mind and the best practices to adopt to avoid the worst impacts to the small towns struggling to decontaminate their drinking water, FRANCE 24 has prepared a three-part series to break down these mounting food scandals. You can read part 1 here.
In the beginning, there were pesticides. Then came PFAS: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances quickly dubbed “forever chemicals” for their uncanny endurance in soil, water and living flesh. Most recently, it’s been cadmium.
Each time, health authorities issue variations of the same warning: all of these contaminants do us harm, and they are everywhere – even in our tap water.
While the most meaningful measures to fight against these contaminants are found in the realm of political action, there are still some things that individuals can do to reduce their risk. What foods should you avoid, and what should you be eating more of? FRANCE 24 draws together some of the best practices to follow to limit your exposure.
When it comes to cadmium, be careful with cereals
Along with tobacco, food is a main cause of cadmium poisoning, a vast study released by the France's National Food Safety Agency (ANSES) revealed in March. Being mindful about what exactly is on your plate is therefore an effective way to keep yourself safe from this heavy metal, which builds up in the liver and kidney and raises the risk of cancers and cardiovascular diseases.
But to do this, you need to look at two different factors: not just which ingredients are the most commonly contaminated, but also – most importantly – how often you’re eating them.
In 2012, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) analysed 144 food groups to measure their exposure to cadmium. That study remains one of the most detailed on the subject to date, and it created a list of the most highly contaminated foodstuffs.
READ MORE‘Public health time bomb’: How France allowed cadmium to poison its crops and soil
Among them, seaweed, oilseeds such as sunflower seeds, mushrooms, animal organs, molluscs – especially oysters, mussels and clams – frog legs, dark chocolate and crustaceans all have cadmium concentrations in excess of 10 micrograms per kilogram, considered a high contamination threshold. The first step, it would seem, would be to limit consumption of these foods.
That being said, unless one is an avid consumer of frog legs and oysters, these foods make up a relatively small proportion of the population’s overall exposure – most people eat them only very occasionally, and then in small amounts.
Unfortunately, most contamination comes largely from products that many people eat every day – cereals such as pasta, bread or biscuits, as well as potatoes and certain vegetables. Despite the fact that the amount of cadmium found in these foods remains relatively low, they’re things that are consumed regularly in many populations – even multiple times a day.
Cadmium, forever chemicals… these contaminants poison the food we eat. From the anxieties these chemicals breed in the public mind and the best practices to adopt to avoid the worst impacts to the small towns struggling to decontaminate their drinking water, FRANCE 24 has prepared a three-part series to break down these mounting food scandals. You can read part 1 here.
In the beginning, there were pesticides. Then came PFAS: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances quickly dubbed “forever chemicals” for their uncanny endurance in soil, water and living flesh. Most recently, it’s been cadmium.
Each time, health authorities issue variations of the same warning: all of these contaminants do us harm, and they are everywhere – even in our tap water.
While the most meaningful measures to fight against these contaminants are found in the realm of political action, there are still some things that individuals can do to reduce their risk. What foods should you avoid, and what should you be eating more of? FRANCE 24 draws together some of the best practices to follow to limit your exposure.
When it comes to cadmium, be careful with cereals
Along with tobacco, food is a main cause of cadmium poisoning, a vast study released by the France's National Food Safety Agency (ANSES) revealed in March. Being mindful about what exactly is on your plate is therefore an effective way to keep yourself safe from this heavy metal, which builds up in the liver and kidney and raises the risk of cancers and cardiovascular diseases.
But to do this, you need to look at two different factors: not just which ingredients are the most commonly contaminated, but also – most importantly – how often you’re eating them.
In 2012, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) analysed 144 food groups to measure their exposure to cadmium. That study remains one of the most detailed on the subject to date, and it created a list of the most highly contaminated foodstuffs.
READ MORE‘Public health time bomb’: How France allowed cadmium to poison its crops and soil
Among them, seaweed, oilseeds such as sunflower seeds, mushrooms, animal organs, molluscs – especially oysters, mussels and clams – frog legs, dark chocolate and crustaceans all have cadmium concentrations in excess of 10 micrograms per kilogram, considered a high contamination threshold. The first step, it would seem, would be to limit consumption of these foods.
That being said, unless one is an avid consumer of frog legs and oysters, these foods make up a relatively small proportion of the population’s overall exposure – most people eat them only very occasionally, and then in small amounts.
Unfortunately, most contamination comes largely from products that many people eat every day – cereals such as pasta, bread or biscuits, as well as potatoes and certain vegetables. Despite the fact that the amount of cadmium found in these foods remains relatively low, they’re things that are consumed regularly in many populations – even multiple times a day.
The foods the most and least contaminated by cadmium. © Studio graphique FMM
Without going so far as to push for the removal of baguettes and bucatini pasta from menus, Pierre Souvet, a cardiologist, president of the French Health and Environment Association and the author of a guide on minimising cadmium intake, advises “varying your diet as much as possible”.
If you’re already eating pasta for lunch, “you can replace breakfast cereals or cakes and biscuits as an afternoon snack with fruit compote and yogurt”, he suggests. “And regularly choose dishes made with legumes instead of pasta.”
And to choose these alternatives wisely, you can opt for the least-contaminated foods: dairy products, eggs, citrus and other types of fruit and legumes such as beans and lentils.
He also advised varying where in the world you’re buying your food from.
"We know that cadmium levels in food depend in part on where the food comes from, because some soils are rich in cadmium," he explains. This is the case with chocolate from South America, for example, which is often more contaminated than its African counterpart.
Souvet had one final piece of advice for those wanting to limit their cadmium exposure: watch out for possible deficiencies in iron, zinc or calcium, which increase the body’s risk of absorbing the heavy metal. In this area, he said, women tend to be more at risk than men.
READ MOREPesticides, cadmium, PFAS: France reckons with the hidden toxins in food (1/2)
When it comes to forever chemicals, watch out for fish
As with cadmium, food is the main way that the French, and likely many other, populations are exposed to certain forever chemicals – in particular, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, the EFSA warns. Despite this, there has long been a dearth of information about just how present these harmful substances are in food.
In 2025, environmental NGO Générations Futures sought to change that by analysing the official data that was available on thousands of samples tested in France, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands for substances from the broader PFAS family – PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS and PFNA.
The results showed that 69 percent of fish, 55 percent of molluscs and animal organs, 39 percent of eggs, 27 percent of crustaceans, 23 percent of dairy products and 14 percent of meat were contaminated with at least one of the four regulated PFAS.
In France, where the data were limited to fish, animal organs and meat, contamination rates reached 88 percent, 56 percent and 35 percent, respectively. On the other hand, red meat and poultry (14 percent), vegetables (14 percent) and fruit (three percent) seemed to be the least affected.
Without going so far as to push for the removal of baguettes and bucatini pasta from menus, Pierre Souvet, a cardiologist, president of the French Health and Environment Association and the author of a guide on minimising cadmium intake, advises “varying your diet as much as possible”.
If you’re already eating pasta for lunch, “you can replace breakfast cereals or cakes and biscuits as an afternoon snack with fruit compote and yogurt”, he suggests. “And regularly choose dishes made with legumes instead of pasta.”
And to choose these alternatives wisely, you can opt for the least-contaminated foods: dairy products, eggs, citrus and other types of fruit and legumes such as beans and lentils.
He also advised varying where in the world you’re buying your food from.
"We know that cadmium levels in food depend in part on where the food comes from, because some soils are rich in cadmium," he explains. This is the case with chocolate from South America, for example, which is often more contaminated than its African counterpart.
Souvet had one final piece of advice for those wanting to limit their cadmium exposure: watch out for possible deficiencies in iron, zinc or calcium, which increase the body’s risk of absorbing the heavy metal. In this area, he said, women tend to be more at risk than men.
READ MOREPesticides, cadmium, PFAS: France reckons with the hidden toxins in food (1/2)
When it comes to forever chemicals, watch out for fish
As with cadmium, food is the main way that the French, and likely many other, populations are exposed to certain forever chemicals – in particular, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, the EFSA warns. Despite this, there has long been a dearth of information about just how present these harmful substances are in food.
In 2025, environmental NGO Générations Futures sought to change that by analysing the official data that was available on thousands of samples tested in France, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands for substances from the broader PFAS family – PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS and PFNA.
The results showed that 69 percent of fish, 55 percent of molluscs and animal organs, 39 percent of eggs, 27 percent of crustaceans, 23 percent of dairy products and 14 percent of meat were contaminated with at least one of the four regulated PFAS.
In France, where the data were limited to fish, animal organs and meat, contamination rates reached 88 percent, 56 percent and 35 percent, respectively. On the other hand, red meat and poultry (14 percent), vegetables (14 percent) and fruit (three percent) seemed to be the least affected.
The foods the most and least contaminated by PFAS. © Studio graphique FMM
Given these results, it might then be recommended to limit your consumption of freshwater fish, animal organs, molluscs, crustaceans and animal milk, instead seeking out fibre-rich foods like vegetables, fruit and legumes.
But Générations Futures spokesperson François Veillerette said these findings remained very general.
“In reality, PFAS concentrations can vary enormously within the same food category,” he says.
Among fish, for example, perch and eels contain high levels of PFAS, while sea bream and salmon contain very little.
“Even from one food to another, PFAS concentrations can vary widely,” he adds. “For example, some eggs may have high levels of PFAS, especially if they come from an area where a chemical plant is located. Others may have none at all.”
WATCH MOREEU moves to tighten rules on harmful pollutants: The invisible danger of 'forever chemicals'
"Unfortunately, though, there is often a lack of transparency regarding the origin of these products. Most of the time, we never know if our eggs come from a farm near a chemical plant, for example," he says.
As with cadmium, he adds, "the best thing to do is therefore to vary not only the types of food, but also the sources and brands for similar products”.
“In short, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
It’s also important to note that the NGO’s study only focuses on four substances among a vast array of forever chemicals.
For example, it has nothing to say about the presence or absence of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), which is considered harmful to childbearing. When it comes to our understanding of just how present forever chemicals are in the food we eat, there’s a great deal of work left to be done.
Given these results, it might then be recommended to limit your consumption of freshwater fish, animal organs, molluscs, crustaceans and animal milk, instead seeking out fibre-rich foods like vegetables, fruit and legumes.
But Générations Futures spokesperson François Veillerette said these findings remained very general.
“In reality, PFAS concentrations can vary enormously within the same food category,” he says.
Among fish, for example, perch and eels contain high levels of PFAS, while sea bream and salmon contain very little.
“Even from one food to another, PFAS concentrations can vary widely,” he adds. “For example, some eggs may have high levels of PFAS, especially if they come from an area where a chemical plant is located. Others may have none at all.”
WATCH MOREEU moves to tighten rules on harmful pollutants: The invisible danger of 'forever chemicals'
"Unfortunately, though, there is often a lack of transparency regarding the origin of these products. Most of the time, we never know if our eggs come from a farm near a chemical plant, for example," he says.
As with cadmium, he adds, "the best thing to do is therefore to vary not only the types of food, but also the sources and brands for similar products”.
“In short, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
It’s also important to note that the NGO’s study only focuses on four substances among a vast array of forever chemicals.
For example, it has nothing to say about the presence or absence of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), which is considered harmful to childbearing. When it comes to our understanding of just how present forever chemicals are in the food we eat, there’s a great deal of work left to be done.
Drinking water
Beyond what we put on our plates, drinking water is also often at the centre of the debate around PFAS pollution.
To keep an eye on the contamination levels of the tap water you drink during meals, Générations Futures launched an interactive map for the French population called "Dans mon eau" (“In My Water”). This citizen-driven tool collects and updates official data in real time, allowing people to find out the quality of the water coming out of their tap at home. It could serve as a model for other countries.
To reduce your exposure to tap-water-borne forever chemicals, you can use a water filter pitcher or – much more effective, but much more expensive – filtration systems that can be professionally installed under your sink.
Going organic
Whether it came to forever chemicals, cadmium or pesticides, both specialists had one broad recommendation in common: opt for organic produce.
"Organic foods are significantly less contaminated with pesticide residues and other pollutants,” Souvet says. “For example, a 2014 meta-analysis estimated that organic foods contained, on average, 48 percent less cadmium.”
A study titled BioNutriNet also shows that choosing an organic diet can be better for your health in general. The study found that eating organic food is associated with a reduction in a number of health risks, including cancer (-25 percent) – particularly breast cancer in postmenopausal women (-36 percent) and lymphoma (-75 percent). There is also a reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes (-35 percent) and obesity (-31 percent).
Will we be able to de-contaminate?
"Unfortunately, all these efforts and best practices can, at best, help us adopt a low-risk approach," Veillerette says. "It seems unrealistic today to think that we can completely protect ourselves from any form of contamination."
In the face of this bitter truth, a vital question emerges: will we ever find a way to fully rid our bodies of these harmful substances?
Researchers have in recent years begun looking for ways to speed up the process, given that both PFAS and cadmium can endure for years in our bodies.
In Australia, for example, a team of researchers is currently studying the use of blood transfusions to decontaminate people heavily exposed to PFAS – which primarily bind to proteins in the body, particularly in the blood and liver.
Some 285 firefighters received blood or plasma transfusions every six weeks for one year. In both cases, these transfusions helped lower their PFAS levels.
Danish researchers have opted for a different approach, trying to intervene during the digestive process itself, during which certain PFAS are absorbed into the body instead of being evacuated.
To this end, they are studying the properties of cholestyramine, a drug normally used to lower cholesterol.
The drug was administered to residents of the town of Korsor, Denmark, identified as one of Europe’s main PFAS contamination “hot spots”. Within 12 weeks, their PFAS levels had decreased by 60 percent.
When it comes to cadmium, clinical trials are currently underway to study the effects of hemodialysis – that is to say, removing a patient’s blood and passing it through a filter outside their body to cut out toxic pollutants. As you might expect, it’s a treatment as invasive as it is costly – but one that could prove a necessary solution for people suffering from extreme contamination.
While these results may be promising, there’s a great deal of research still to be done to confirm their effectiveness – and assess their concrete effects on the patients’ long-term health.
“For now, the best course of action is to prevent contamination,” Souvet says.
And, both experts agreed, that means putting into action public policy measures that reduce contamination at the source.
This article has been translated from the original in French.
