Industrial Hygiene Article Review

One significant industrial hygiene related situation that occurred in the not too distant past involved workers at a microwave popcorn facility who were diagnosed with a debilitating lung disease known as bronchiolitis obliterans. The industrial hygiene and public health community was somewhat taken off guard when a number of workers suffered severe, irreparable lung dysfunction at a Missouri popcorn plant. After all, these folks didn’t work with what had traditionally been identified as highly hazardous substances. They worked with food products and butter flavorings. In the early 2000s this was considered an emerging issue. A lot has been learned about butter flavorings over the years. However, the substance identified as Diacetyl and similar products used as food flavorings continue to be a significant issue and are identified as primary culprits behind several clusters of bronchiolitis obliterans tied to workers at food processing facilities that use butter flavoring.