Popcorn Lung Illness Overview
Flavorings found in food products often contain complex mixtures of natural and manmade ingredients. Depending on the flavoring and the food product manufacturing process, workers in factories and manufacturing plants may be exposed to hazardous flavorings or flavoring ingredients in the form of chemical vapors, dusts, or sprays.
Recent research has focused on the release of harmful chemical vapors at microwave popcorn packaging plants. Studies have revealed the occurrence of severe lung disease in workers at these plants. More specifically, a chemical called diacetyl, found in butter flavoring mixtures, may be causing bronchiolitis obliterans, an uncommon lung disease characterized by fixed airway obstruction.
In September 2007, a number of microwave popcorn manufacturers announced that they are making efforts to remove the chemical food additive diacetyl from their products, and ABC News reported the first known case of bronchiolitis obliterans (also called "popcorn lung") in a consumer who ate large quantities of microwave popcorn.
Diacetyl
Diacetyl (2,3-butanedione) is a chemical that has been used to add a butter-like flavor to food products, including microwave popcorn.
Animal studies of exposure to butter flavoring vapors have shown airway injury in rats after acute inhalation of these vapors. While the studies show that the vapors are capable of causing severe airway injury in laboratory animals, a causal relationship between diacetyl exposure and the development of bronchiolitis obliterans has not been firmly established.
Bronchiolitis Obliterans
Bronchiolitis obliterans is an uncommon lung disease characterized by fixed airway obstruction. When inflammation and scarring occur in the smallest airways of the lung, it can lead to severe and disabling shortness of breath.
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Page last updated September 10, 2007
Most content above
from the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
