A scoping review of PFAS mitigation strategies for soil, water, and experimentally exposed fruits and vegetables

• PFAS persistence and toxicity drive increasing global health concerns. • Scoping review assessed PFAS mitigation in soil, fruits, and vegetables. • Findings show high heterogeneity and a need for standardized methods. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of synthetic chemicals widely used in the production of industrial and consumer products. Due to their environmental persistence and health effects, PFAS have become a primary focus of global public health concern. This scoping review summarizes the literature on interventions aimed at reducing concentrations of 12 PFAS in soil and edible portions of fruit and vegetables. A comprehensive search of PubMed and Centre for Agricultural and Bioscience International (CABI) was conducted on April 9 and April 17, 2024, without date or language restrictions. Eligible references included experimental studies targeting PFAS reduction in water, agricultural soil, fruits or vegetables. Thirty-two references, with an eligible outcome measured in soil, fruits or vegetables, were included for data charting. Findings suggest that minimal replication exists across studies due to variability in intervention implementation, outcome measurement, and plant growing conditions. A limited number of studies evaluated soil and/or plants as outcomes of interest with only twenty-five references providing extractable data, with most focusing on soil-based outcomes (n = 18) and fewer on plant-based outcomes (n = 7). This heterogeneity highlights a critical need for standardized methodologies to enable meaningful synthesis across literature.