Read the current issue on the BfR2GO website: https://www.bfr2go.de/en/issue-1-2026/
Humans ingest PFAS largely through animal food products, such as fish, meat, milk, and eggs. Due to the long retention time of certain PFAS in the body, concentrations may build up that have adverse effects on humans. These include an increase in blood lipid levels (a risk factor for cardiovascular disease), an increase in a liver enzyme in blood serum (indicating a liver disorder) and reduced birth weight. Using transfer studies, Dr Robert Pieper and his team at the BfR are investigating how PFAS enter food via feed, drinking water, and soil. He explains exactly how this works in the BfR2GO interview.
Also in the new issue: What omega-3 fatty acids can really do. They are promoted as beneficial to health, particularly on social media. The feature in the magazine explains when a dietary supplement is (or isn’t) recommended and provides examples of foods that are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids. The current issue also examines the hype surrounding raw milk as a supposed superfood, as well as the health risk assessment and authorisation of food colours that give food a colourful finish. Other topics in the magazine: seaweed as a risky source of iodine, dietary lead intake, and foodborne viral infections.
Risk and hazard: two terms that are often used interchangeably in everyday life. Using the current example of the reclassification of ethanol, BfR2GO shows why the distinction in scientific risk assessment carries significant weight. The production of clothing cannot happen without chemicals. The new issue also explores which chemicals are used and how
limits protect our health. As the weather warms up, the rule is: stay hydrated – even when you’re out and about. The BfR2GO material check for water bottles offers guidance.
In an interview, communication scientist Professor Eva Baumann discusses the challenges of risk communication in an age of information overload – and how to reach people despite these challenges. An insight into the path that animal-free methods for the safety assessment of chemicals must take before they are internationally recognised rounds off the issue.
BfR2GO is now also available as a website. At bfr2go.de/en, you can now find and read articles on the safety of food and feed, products, and chemicals even faster and easier, and they are also accessible on mobile devices – making them perfect for when you’re on the go. This way, knowledge really does come with you wherever you go.
Compact and packed to the brim with knowledge, BfR2GO provides up-to-date and well-founded information on research and its assessment in the fields of consumer health protection and the protection of laboratory animals. Each issue of the magazine features a current topic from one of the BfR’s areas of work as its main focus. In addition, there are reports, interviews and news items from all of the BfR’s areas of work.
The magazine is available in German and English on the new BfR2GO website and can be read online or downloaded for free. If you would like to receive BfR2GO on a regular basis, sign up for a free subscription here: https://www.bfr2go.de/en/subscribe/
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is a scientifically independent institution within the portfolio of the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMLEH). It protects people's health preventively in the fields of public health and veterinary public health. The BfR provides advice to the Federal Government as well as the Federal States (‘Laender’) on questions related to food, feed, chemical and product safety. The BfR conducts its own research on topics closely related to its assessment tasks.