PFAS levels in sewage sludge put New York’s dairy and meat industry at risk

By Gaea Cabico | Sentient | June 25, 2026

Read the full article by Gaea Cabico (Sentient)

"Milk is rarely found in Eva Turner’s refrigerator. The 74-year-old grandmother stopped keeping it regularly because of a question she can’t shake: “Am I poisoning them, my grandkids, by putting milk in their cereal?”

Turner has spent most of her life in Cameron Mills, a quiet rural community in New York’s Steuben County. It’s the kind of place where neighbors look after one another, she tells Sentient. But about 30 years ago, residents noticed something unusual being spread on nearby farmland. It was different from the traditional manure fertilizer they were used to, Turner says. The smell, she describes, was “ferocious.” Residents complained that they could not open their windows, hang clothes outside or simply enjoy being outdoors.

Eventually, the community learned the material was sewage sludge, a semi-solid and nutrient-rich byproduct left behind after wastewater treatment. Also known as “biosolids,” the material has long been used across the United States as fertilizer."