Presence and sources of anthropogenic perfluoroalkyl acids in high-consumption tap-water based beverages

This study investigates the presence and sources of perfluorinated alkyl acids (PFAAs) in tap water and corresponding tap-water based beverages such as coffee and cola collected in the city of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Exposure pathways studies have shown that low concentrations of PFAA in tap water already may pose a high contribution to daily human exposure. Tap water samples (n = 4) had higher concentrations of PFAAs than the corresponding post-mixed cola (n = 4). The lower PFAA levels in the cola were attributed to the pre-treatment of tap water in the mixing machines and dilution with cola syrup. In coffee samples from a coffee machine perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) at 4 ng L?1 was the dominating analyte (n = 12). The concentrations of PFHpA, PFOA and non branched PFOS were found to be significantly higher in manually (self) brewed coffee than in the corresponding tap water (n = 4). The contribution from short-chain PFAA analogs could not be quantified due to low recoveries. Leaching experiments at different temperatures were performed with fluoropolymers-containing tubes to investigate the potential of leaching from tubes used in beverage preparation (n = 16). Fluoropolymer tubes showed leaching of PFAAs at high (80 °C) temperature but its relevance for contamination of beverages in practice is small. The specific contribution from perfluoropolymer tubing inside the beverage preparation machines could not be assessed since no information was available from the manufacturers. The present study shows that although different beverage preparation processes possibly affect the concentrations of PFAAs encountered in the final consumed product, the water used for preparation remains the most important source of PFAAs. This in turn has implications for areas where drinking water is contaminated. Tap-water based beverages will possibly be an additional source of human exposure to PFAAs and need to be considered in exposure modeling.