You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Original article
Reduction of cooking oil fume exposure following an engineering intervention in Chinese restaurants
  1. Chih-Hong Pan1,2,
  2. Tung-Sheng Shih1,
  3. Chiou-Jong Chen1,
  4. Jin-Huei Hsu1,
  5. Shun-Chih Wang1,
  6. Chien-Ping Huang3,
  7. Ching-Tang Kuo4,
  8. Kuen-Yuh Wu5,
  9. Howard Hu6,7,8,
  10. Chang-Chuan Chan5
  1. 1Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Council of Labour Affairs, Executive Yuan, Taipei, Taiwan
  2. 2School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
  3. 3Energy and Environment Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan
  4. 4Institute of Environmental Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
  5. 5Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
  6. 6Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  7. 7Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan Schools of Public Health and Medicine, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
  8. 8Department of Epidemiology and Medicine, University of Michigan Schools of Public Health and Medicine, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
  1. Correspondence to Professor Chang-Chuan Chan, Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Rm. 722, No. 17, Xu-Zhou Rd, Taipei 10020, Taiwan; ccchan{at}ntu.edu.tw

Abstract

Background A new engineering intervention measure, an embracing air curtain device (EACD), was used to increase the capture efficiency of cooker hoods and reduce cooking oil fume (COF) exposure in Chinese restaurants.

Methods An EACD was installed in six Chinese restaurants where the cooks complained of COF exposure. Before- and after-installation measurements were taken to compare changes in particulate matter (PM) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in kitchen air, and changes in levels of urinary 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and malondialdehyde (MDA). The association between PM and PAHs in air and 8-OHdG and MDA in urine was evaluated by linear mixed-effects regression analysis.

Results Results showed that geometric mean kitchen air levels of PM10, PM2.5, PM1.0 and total particulate PAHs were significantly reduced after the EACDs were introduced. Urinary levels of 8-OHdG and MDA in cooks were also significantly lower after EACD instalment. PM2.5, PM1.0 and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) levels were positively associated with urinary 8-OHdG levels after adjusting for key personal covariates. Urinary MDA levels in cooks were also positively associated with BaP levels after adjusting for key personal covariates.

Conclusion This study demonstrates that the EACD is effective for reducing COF and oxidative stress levels in cooks working in Chinese kitchens.

  • Cooking oil fumes
  • health risks
  • air curtain
  • urinary 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine
  • urinary malondialdehyde
  • oxidative stress
  • restaurant workers
  • biological monitoring
  • exposure assessment

https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.2009.049767

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Funding This study was supported by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Council of Labor Affairs, Taiwan (grant number: IOSH95-M304).

    • Competing interests None.

    • Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the Institute Review Board of the National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.