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It turns out that beer might not be as clean as we’d like to think. A recent study found that nearly every beer they tested contained PFAS, the so-called “forever chemicals” that build up in the body and never really go away. These are the same chemicals linked to health problems like cancer, high cholesterol, and immune system issues .
The biggest culprit is the water they used in brewing. In places where local water sources are already contaminated, like North Carolina’s Cape Fear River Basin, parts of Missouri, and Kalamazoo County in Michigan, the beers made there had some of the highest levels of PFAS. What’s worrying is that some of the samples even went over the new safety limits set for drinking water. Filtering does help, but most breweries don’t have the kind of systems needed to remove PFAS completely.
And it’s not just the water. These chemicals can sneak in through farm fertilizers, the hoses and equipment in breweries, and even the packaging. That makes it a bigger challenge than simply cleaning up the tap water. The good news is that there are ways to get rid of PFAS, like carbon filters and reverse osmosis, and some towns and a few breweries are already using them.
The researchers who worked on the study hope this sparks some change, both in water treatment plants and in brewing practices. For the rest of us, it’s a reminder of how widespread PFAS have become in everyday life, even in something as ordinary as a cold beer.
References:
People Staff. (2025, May 26). The latest unlikely source of 'forever chemicals' is a Memorial Day menu staple. People. https://people.com/unlikely-source-forever-chemicals-memorial-day-menu-staple-beer-11740943
Further Reading:
American Chemical Society. (2025). Hold my beer: The linkage between municipal water and brewing location on PFAS in popular beverages. Environmental Science & Technology. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c11265