Testing commissioned by Greenpeace France has reignited fears over multinational food companies’ use of potentially health-harming chemicals and the fragmented international food safety standards that control their use.

Residue of hexane, a petroleum-based solvent linked to reproductive and nervous system damage, was found in 36 of 56 food products, including vegetable oil, chicken, butter, milk and infant formula, tested by researchers with the University of Littoral-Côte d’Opale.

Hexane belongs to a class of chemicals called “processing aids” that are used by agribusiness giants — including Avril, Cargill Inc. and Bunge Global — to make food production quicker and cheaper. Hexane is widely used because it efficiently extracts oils from crops and seeds like soybeans, corn, sunflower and rapeseed. These oils are refined with the aim of removing the hexane, then sold in supermarkets and used in everyday food items. But some hexane typically remains in the oil, and it is not declared on food labels.

Processing aids have faced growing scrutiny from food safety groups, researchers and regulators. In March, a French lawmaker introduced a bill aiming to phase out hexane’s use and add warning labels on food. This week, a collective of researchers published an open letter in the French newspaper Le Monde calling for hexane to be restricted or banned in food. 

The European Chemicals Agency says hexane is hazardous and that it could harm the reproductive and nervous systems. Yet the last safety evaluation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the EU’s regulatory body for food, was done in 1996, nearly three decades ago.

In a 2024 report, EFSA described safety data as “insufficient” and called for a “re-evaluation” of hexane’s use. It warned that previous assessments may have underestimated exposure among “infants, toddlers and other children.” The agency has issued a call for safety data, with submissions closing this autumn. 

The levels of hexane found by Greenpeace fell within allowable European limits, but those standards rely on industry-provided data. Greenpeace called these standards “weak and obsolete."

Outside Europe, allowable levels vary widely. India permits hexane levels five times higher than the European limit in vegetable oils. The United States allows levels 25 times higher than the European limit in spices, with no restrictions on hexane in oil, food or animal feed.

Laurence Jacques, who worked in the food industry for 32 years, was so concerned about hexane’s health effects that she set up a company, EcoXtract, that makes a plant-based alternative for food companies.

“Given the well-proven toxicity of hexane, this situation is concerning for the European population,” she told The Examination, and “probably even worse in the U.S.” She called for hexane to be disclosed on labels and ultimately banned. 

Christian Cravotto, a Paris-based co-author of one of the latest studies on the health and environmental risks of hexane, said Greenpeace’s report “rightly draws attention to a real and relevant” issue. 

“Consumers face limited acute risk,” he wrote in an email, “but chronic, low-level exposure through refined oils remains possible.” He recommended people buy cold-pressed or organic oils, “with virgin olive oil representing the gold standard in terms of safety and quality.”

Greenpeace’s report quoted agribusiness insiders expressing concern about hexane. In a 2021 note, an industry researcher told a client that the list of hexane’s toxic effects is not “up to ongoing standards.” A former food oil industry executive interviewed by Greenpeace called the use of hexane “an absolute scandal.”

Avril, Cargill and Bunge all operate animal feed processing facilities in France that use hexane, according to Greenpeace’s report. The companies did not respond to The Examination’s request for a comment on the report and on the safety of hexane in food.  

Nathalie Lecocq, director general of FEDIOL, the EU’s vegetable oil and proteinmeal industry association, told The Examination that EFSA did not find “any immediate health concern” linked to hexane in food production. In a briefing on its website, FEDIOL said EFSA had “very likely” overestimated people’s exposure.

Greenpeace France is calling for a ban on foods containing hexane, mandatory labelling of processing aids and stronger regulation.