Greenpeace has found harmful chemicals in marine animals from the North and Baltic Seas. As little as one meal per week endangers health, according to the NGO.
Edible fish, shellfish and crabs from the North and Baltic Seas are heavily contaminated with the harmful chemicals PFAS. This was shown by a Greenpeace investigation based on 17 samples of marine wildlife. Plaice, herring, turbot and crabs exhibited levels exceeding the European Food Safety Authority’s recommended intake.
Adults can exceed the maximum tolerable weekly dose of PFAS with just a 150-gram portion of these seafood items, and children with 50 grams on their plate.
Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic compounds that, because of their water- and oil-repellent properties, are found in everyday products such as nonstick pans, outdoor clothing or food packaging. These so-called “forever chemicals” spread easily in the ecosystem, for example through wastewater, persist hardly at all in nature as well as in humans, and harm the environment and health.
“German authorities must examine seafood from the sea for PFAS much more rigorously than before. The European Food Safety Authority already warns exemplary about the carcinogenic and hormonally active substances,” says Julios Kontchou, an ecotoxicologist at Greenpeace.
Chemical industry blocks alternatives
The samples were purchased by Greenpeace activists in late June 2025, directly from fishing trawlers, at fish markets, and in shops in Niendorf, Heiligenhafen, Cuxhaven, Büsum, Bremerhaven and Hamburg. Each sample contained between one and seven quantified PFAS compounds. Greenpeace found the carcinogenic PFOS subgroup in all samples. For plaice, turbot and crabs, seven different PFAS were detected in individual samples.
Although there are now PFAS-free alternatives for many uses, the chemical industry has so far blocked all proposals for European PFAS regulation, Kontchou criticizes: “The federal government must protect people and the environment from the interests of the chemical industry. The use of PFAS in everyday items must be banned without exception.”
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