What do beef industry leaders have to say on PFAS?

Highly regarded within the beef industry from his time at the United Graziers Association, AgForce, Cattle Council of Australia and as patron of the Australian Braford Society, Mr Acton said he was appalled that industry organisations had not pushed for MRLs for PFAS in beef to protect our overseas markets.

Mr Acton's comments follow the discovery of high readings of PFAS in bore water on a property, Frog's Hollow, 8 km from Biloela that he and his wife, Beth, bought in April, 2021 where they planned to relocate their Braford stud.

He said the thing that worried him the most was the problem with chemical buildup of PFAS in meat.

"We run a cattle business here and the Department of Primary Industries in Queensland...SAFEMEAT and all the other rural organisations that should be trying to find a way to fix this seem to want to ignore it," he said.

"I am appalled, I'm outraged at the way the department has absolved itself of any responsibility.

"I am outraged that none of the cattle industry bodies have picked this up because there are hundreds of sites around Australia (that could be affected) and there are many that have proven to be a problem already for human health and animal health.

"And we're still sitting and fighting over whether something should be done and not what should be done."

Queensland Country Life has contacted AgForce Cattle and Cattle Australia several times and has had no response to a number of questions sent to them.

MLA was also contacted and responded by saying it was not their issue, but one for SAFEMEAT.

The offices for the Ministers for Agriculture at a federal and state level, Murray Watt and Mark Furner, have also ignored questions from Queensland Country Life on the issue of MRLs.

The only industry leader to talk to QCL is Alex McDonald, the outgoing executive director of the Australian Registered Cattle Breeders Association.

Mr McDonald said he was surprised Australia did not have MRLs for PFAS chemicals in beef.

He said it would be concern that by not testing or monitoring for PFAS in Australian beef it could risk our overseas.

"I think sooner or later Australia will have to introduce MRLs for PFAS chemicals...for cattle and sheepmeats as well."

Mr McDonald told QCL that industries bodies like Cattle Australia were certainly aware of the PFAS issues; were monitoring the issue and were aware of the potential for PFAS to become an issue.

He said ARCBA had, in the past, expressed concern for beef producers who had been affected by PFAS contamination on their properties.

"We were more concerned (at that time) that the government wasn't adequately compensating properties that have been found to have PFAS levels in their cattle," he said,

As a former industry leader, Mr Acton is worried that Australia does not yet have maximums residue levels for PFAS like the EU which introduced an MRL for PFAS in beef in 2021.

"That's where we got in to trouble in the '80s with chemical residues such as helix from cotton trash and organochlorines in beef. Other countries started testing for those chemicals and Australia didn't and we didn't monitor them," he said.

"The (beef) industry in Australia, as far as I am aware, doesn't have a level of chemical PFAS acceptance in meat so surely there is a potential market problem in the future unless we get in and do something about it and do it quick," he said.

Mr Acton said industry bodies would argue that there were millions of cattle in Australia and probably only hundreds of thousands that could potentially be affected by PFAS.

"But you've only got to have one show up in the wrong place and get pinged and then it becomes an issue," he said.

On February 21, the Oakey Creek Groundwater Management Association is holding a meeting of its members to draw up a set of questions and ongoing concerns about PFAS to the Department of Defence.

The contamination on Mr Acton's property only came to light when he was approached by CS Energy officials wanting to test their bores three weeks after the property purchase settled in 2021.

Mr Acton said one of the reasons they bought the property was for its high-flowing main bore which was one that subsequently tested positive to high concentrations of PFAS.