Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Our Blog on June 27, 2026
Researchers identify forever chemicals in beer in an interesting scientific study published in the journal, Environmental Science & Technology. “Hold My Beer: The Linkage Between Municipal Water and Brewing Location on PFAS in Popular Beverages” dives into the root of PFAS contamination in beer.
The obvious, but not so obvious source.
Water.
What are forever chemicals? Do we really find forever chemicals in beer? Is municipal water the actual source of this contamination? If so, what can be done to prevent it? How do I get in on the next research study?
Forever chemicals, or more technically per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), have been used for decades. They are commonly used in cookware, carpets, clothes, furniture, and in industrial manufacturing and firefighting foam. Mostly for their anti-grease, stain-repelling, and water-resistant properties.
Why are they called “forever chemicals?”
Because they never go away.
They literally persist. Forever!
They resist degradation, they are microscopic and can get into just about everything, and they never ever go away. They are in our food, our environment, and even in our bodies.
The above applications sound very convenient. They are. That’s why they were used for so long.
Shoe stores used to X-ray feet in shoes to check their fit before people began getting tumors and realized that it wasn’t such a great idea. Don’t believe me? They were called shoe-fitting fluoroscopes!
Like the unshielded radiation, recent studies have shown how dangerous they are.
Forever chemicals can cause:
These forever chemicals can continue to remain the body for years after they are ingested. Complicating and compounding the negative health effects of the chemical.
“Nearly every American has PFAS in their blood,” says research authors. Consumption of contaminated drinking water is likely the primary contributor.
These forever chemicals have been well documented in surface water, groundwater, well water, and municipal water supplies across the United States. Even the world.
This has been a problem the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has known about for quite some time. In fact, the agency requested that large public drinking water systems test their water for PFAS to better understand the potential contaminant. This occurred between 2013 and 2015.
In 2023 the EPA set some limits. U.S. based municipal water systems now have an established maximum contaminant level (MCL) for six PFAS they identified in drinking water. A well debated topic, for as we speak certain limits may be rolled back because they are simply unattainable. But that is a food safety policy topic for another blog post.
Beer has been around for millennia. At one time it was a method of payment. A primary food source (it is liquid bread after all). An overall popular beverage and the topic of many super bowl commercial discussions. At one point, it was safer to drink than water due to waterborne germs.
It is the third most popular beverage around the world. Preceded only by water and tea.
It is a huge industry. Study authors indicate that it enjoys a marked over $400 billion. Smaller craft breweries are popping up everywhere and have increased in numbers over the past several decades. These microbreweries make up a quarter of the U.S. market and produce more than 15,000 barrels (460,000 U.S. gallons) annually.
However available and magical the ferment might be, it is still a water-based beverage.
Yes there is malt from grains. Hops and yeast.
But the primary ingredient in a beer recipes is, in fact, water.
It can take as much as 7 L of water to produce just 1L of beer.
On top of that, there are several different steps in the process where forever chemicals can be introduced.
Primary steps in beer manufacturing include “malting, mashing, boiling, fermenting, storage, packaging, and cleaning.” These forever chemicals can even be introduced by any number of ingredients, packaging, or storage materials. Even cleaning supplies.
Scientists from RTI International in North Carolina set out to understand how much of these forever chemicals end up in beer. Are there factors that influence this phenomenon?
What may have started out as a fun research topic, has serious implications that can benefit society at large.
I’ll toast to that!
The study took place in three parts.
The first part of the study involved testing 19 different beers. They took one sample from each beer.
Researchers detected PFAS above maximum allowable levels in 58% of them. In areas where PFAS concentrations were known to be elevated, this increased to 80%.
Both domestic and international beers were selected in this part of the study. One of the five popular national beers tested positive for forever chemicals. Of the three international beers, one contained detectable amounts of PFAS.
Once a baseline was met, they tested additional samples of each beer. Just to be sure that results were reproducible and to rule out can-to-can variations.
Forever chemicals were detected in 95% of the positive beer samples, with the larger number of compounds found in samples originating in Chatham County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and St. Louis County, Missouri.
The third phase of the study compared sample results to known PFAS contamination data in available municipal water jurisdictions. Some of the beers were selected based on their brewing location to areas that had available data on PFAS in drinking water.
While PFAS were detected in just about all of the beers sampled, smaller scale breweries near contaminated drinking water sources appeared to be the hardest hit. Not exactly a surprise at this point in the blog post.
With 18% of U.S. breweries in zip codes with detectable PFAS in their municipal drinking water, water appears to be the source of contamination of forever chemicals in beer.
We have a strong inclination as to how the forever chemicals end up in beer. At least one of the sources, anyway. What then, can we do about it?
Water filters are the most common solution.
While the municipal water system should also do their part to remove forever chemicals from the water supply, the end user may have to pick up the slack with water filters.
Carbon-based water filters are a great way to reduce forever chemicals in water. Which is great for home applications. But it may be cost prohibitive in a brewery operation. Every aspect of the operation would require filtered water. Even cleaning activities.
Imagine a home water filtration system on a much larger scale.
Cost prohibitive or not, this may be the solution.
It is true that consumers have begun to scrutinize the food and drinks we choose to purchase. Could this carry over into beer?
Possibly.
However, unless you stumble upon test results or someone calling out your favorite beer or brewery, you are unlikely to know if they are impacted by municipal water contamination. If it is a local brewery, you likely share the same water supply.
That doesn’t mean that we can do more and expect more from the companies that make the products we spend our hard-earned money on. Or from our municipal water supply.
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “Forever Chemicals in Beer?,” check out the Make Food Safe Blog. We regularly update trending topics, foodborne infections in the news, recalls, and more! Stay tuned for quality information to help keep your family safe, while The Lange Law Firm, PLLC strives to Make Food Safe!
By: Heather Van Tassell (contributing writer, non-lawyer)