Dartmouth College researcher Emily Sigman notes the species of a maple before collecting a sap sample on the Crawford Property in South Royalton, Vt., that was once littered with junk cars on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. With a grant from the USDA Acer (the genus of maple) Access and Development program, she is studying how maple trees take up heavy metals and PFAS chemicals from the surrounding soil into their sap, and whether those contaminants can be filtered out of syrup to acceptable levels for consumption. Before coming to Dartmouth, Sigman earned a masters degree in forestry, public policy and global affairs from Yale where she researched the cocoa supply chain. (Valley News – James M. Patterson)
Research Investigates Maple Syrup Contamination
Emily Sigman, a PhD student in ecology, evolution, environment, and society, is leading research on contaminants in maple syrup, exploring how heavy metals and PFAS might concentrate in sap and whether simple filtration methods can make syrup safer.Read more in Vermont News.
