PFAS are a large family of manufactured compounds that persist in the environment and accumulate in living tissue. In freshwater fish, PFOS in particular builds up to concentrations far above those in the surrounding water, which is why several states have issued fish consumption advice based on PFAS alone, sometimes on lakes with no other contaminant problem.

This test measures PFAS in the flesh of a fish caught from your lake. You catch and fillet the fish, record its species, size, and where it came from, and ship the sample to an accredited laboratory.

PFAS science and state guidance are both moving quickly. A result is a measurement, and how your state interprets that measurement may change.

What this test does and does not decide. Lake Pulse sells tests that measure what is in the fish. We do not decide whether you can eat it. Fish consumption advice is issued by state health and natural resource agencies, which set advice by species, by size, and by who is eating, and their advisory for your lake stands regardless of what a single fillet shows. Check your state advisory first, and treat these results as additional information alongside it, never as a replacement for it.

One of three fish tissue tests. Each measures a different group of contaminants in the flesh of fish caught from your lake.

• Fish Tissue Metals Test — mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and lead
• Fish Tissue PFAS Test — PFAS, including PFOS
• Fish Tissue Pesticide Screen — a broad screen of pesticide residues