The situation is critical: Poisonous wine floods Europe, Hungary also affected

A shocking new study has revealed that wine across Europe — including Hungary — is widely contaminated with “forever chemicals”, raising serious public health concerns. According to research published by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe, nearly every bottle of wine tested contained trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a persistent pollutant linked to severe health risks.

TFA is the final breakdown product of a group of pesticides known as PFAS (perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances), infamous for their ability to remain in the environment — and in the human body — indefinitely, Portfolio writes. While older wines harvested before 1988 showed no trace of TFA, wines produced after 2010 displayed alarming contamination levels. In some cases, concentrations reached up to 320 micrograms per litre — more than 3,000 times higher than the EU’s groundwater threshold.

Hungarian wines affected as well

The situation is particularly troubling for Hungary. Two Hungarian wines — a red Villányi Kékfrankos and a white Tokaji Sárgamuskotály — were included in the study. The Kékfrankos showed a significant TFA level of 120 µg/l, while the Sárgamuskotály contained 66 µg/l, MTVSZ reports. Experts warn that despite the small sample size, the contamination likely extends to many other Hungarian wines as well.

While organic wines tended to have lower levels of TFA compared to conventional wines, none were entirely free from contamination. This underlines a grim reality: due to widespread environmental pollution, even organic farming cannot fully shield consumers from exposure.

The widespread contamination is a direct consequence of the wine industry’s heavy reliance on pesticides, particularly fungicides, given the grapevine’s vulnerability to disease. Spraying is so frequent that vineyards have effectively become hotspots for chemical accumulation.