BLADEN COUNTY -- New tests show the chemical GenX is turning up in food near the coast.

State officials started investigating the Chemours plant in Bladen and Cumberland counties in June. 

People who live nearby are already worried about the chemical being in the water and air, and now they're worried about what they eat too. 

Bladen County resident Kellie Hair says she won't be harvesting her crops this year. "There's farmers around here putting stuff up all of the time, and now, we just don't know what to do," Hair said.

First it was water, then it was air, and now, tests show the chemical GenX could be in food. 

On Monday, the North Carolina Science Advisory Board met in Wilmington to discuss emerging contaminants like GenX. 

At the meeting, it was noted that honey produced at a farmer's property near the Chemours plant showed high levels of the potentially toxic chemical.

"So the honey test itself is not so much important on its own single entity, but the idea that it is possible that GenX is in other foods, or people could have exposure to GenX other than drinking water," said North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Director, Elizabeth Tilson.

One question, however, is whether the same tests that check for GenX in water can be used to test GenX in food too.

One Fayetteville State University Professor says it's very likely the chemical could be transported through bees and other animals that drink from the Cape Fear River.

"If GenX is in the water, that will get into the nectar that they convert to honey, so it's very likely GenX would be transported that way," said Biology Professor, Dr. Shirley Chao. 

And those bees could potentially pollinate plants that people like Kellie Hair plan to eat.

"It's being exposed everywhere," Hair said. "How are they going to explain it when people are eating GenX and they wind up with liver or pancreatic cancer?"