PFAS levels too high Canton of St. Gallen stops sale of meat products
Some food products are currently no longer being sold in the canton of St. Gallen. The reason for this is excessive chemical contamination.
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- The canton of St. Gallen has measured high PFAS levels in the meat of some cows and cattle.
- It stopped the sale of the food in question.
The canton of St. Gallen has measured high PFAS levels in the meat of some cows and cattle. It stopped the sale of the food in question. The St. Gallen government is calling for a national action plan to deal with the persistent chemicals.
According to a statement from the State Chancellery on Wednesday, the canton suspects that in many cases sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants is the cause of the contaminated agricultural land. Until 2006, this was allowed to be spread on agricultural land as fertilizer, allowing the chemicals "per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds" (PFAS) to enter the soil.
PFAS are poorly degradable chemicals. They have been used industrially for decades, for example in water-repellent rain jackets, Teflon-coated frying pans or fire-fighting foam. These chemicals are released into the environment and can be detected in the food chain and in humans. They pose a potential health risk to humans.
