EFSA lowers safe level for exposure to TFA

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has reduced the safe level of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in the diet based on new scientific evidence. TFA is a breakdown product of some pesticides.

The European Commission and EU Member States will take the new levels into account when they discuss measures to ensure consumers remain protected.

What is TFA?

Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) is a chemical coming from multiple sources that can form when per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances break down, including from certain active substances in pesticides. As a result, TFA can end up in groundwater, soil and food crops.

EU Member States are required to monitor PFAS levels in drinking water, while other monitoring programmes track PFAS levels in food.

What has changed?

EFSA’s experts lowered the acceptable daily intake (ADI) to 0.014 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight per day, down from the previous value of 0.05. The new ADI is about 3.5 times lower than the previous one. They also set a new acute reference dose of 0.07 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. 

These updated values are based on new evidence, which showed, among other effects, that TFA changes levels of thyroxine – a hormone produced by the thyroid gland that plays an important role in regulating the body.

What evidence was used?

EFSA issued a call for data that ran from 6 August to 7 October 2024. The information we looked at includes:

• data from EU country assessments of pesticide products that can form TFA
• previous EFSA assessments of active substances in pesticides that can form TFA
• studies considered by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) as part of classification proposals 
• industry data

EFSA worked closely with experts from EU countries, academia and other organisations, and invited them to contribute throughout the process, including in our working group. We received 177 comments in response to our public consultation, all of which were considered in our final report. 

We also identified areas for further research including the potential of TFA for long-term toxicity and carcinogenicity and developmental immunotoxicity. An additional uncertainty factor was introduced in the calculation of the ADI to account for these uncertainties. 

How does this relate to other EU work on TFA? 

EFSA’s work is part of wider EU efforts to assess and manage PFAS substances, in cooperation with other bodies such as ECHA. 

Together with ECHA, we are currently examining how PFAS pesticides break down into TFA, and its fate and behaviour in soil and water, which we expect to be completed by next summer.