Early-life dietary exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) through milk consumption: A systematic review
By Hamid Ahmadpourmir, Seyedeh Faezeh Taghizadeh, Konstantinos Tsarouhas, Fatemeh Rakhshani, Vida Ebrahimi, Aristidis Tsatsakis, Christina Tsitsimpikou, Mahmoud Hashemzaei, and Ramin Rezaee
J Appl Toxicol
September 17, 2025
DOI: 10.1002/jat.4932
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has raised public concern due to its widespread presence/use and toxic health effects including hepatotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and developmental toxicity. Because dietary intake is a major route of PFOA exposure, and milk is a primary source of nutrition in early life, the present systematic review discusses PFOA occurrence in milk samples and the employed determination methods. In the present article, 69 studies (published 2007-2024) reporting PFOA levels in infant formula, commercial milk, and human breast milk were included. The highest concentration of PFOA in infant formula and commercial milk was reported from Spain (2490 ng/kg) and the highest level of PFOA in breast milk from Belgium (3.5 ng/mL). The most commonly used approaches for extraction and analysis of PFOA were solid-phase extraction and LC-MS/MS, respectively. The evidence indicates the need for constant monitoring of PFOA levels in milk samples to safeguard vulnerable populations, especially neonates, infants, and children.
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