U.S. Report: Commercial Cooking Intensifies Air Pollution

As you stroll through the commercial streets lined with restaurants and enjoy the wonderful smell of steak, hamburgers and various grilled vegetables, please note that you may have come to an air-pollution area.

Scientists from Minnesota, USA, have brought us a surprising report. They believe that commercial cooking activities are the source of many pollutants in the air. These pollutants may endanger human health and environmental safety. Scientists discussed this issue at the 239th National Congress of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Dr. Deborah Gross pointed out that commercial food cooking activities have been proven to produce a variety of air pollutants, including some harmful gases and tiny solid particles, as well as frying and frying in home kitchens. "There is no doubt that the kind of mouth-watering food, the aroma of appetite is a result of the various smoke emitted into the air during cooking," said Dr. Gross.

At the same time, some studies conducted in the United States in the last decade have shown that cooking is by far the main source of inhalable particulate matter in the home compared to other factors. "People are often exposed to high concentrations of inhalable particles produced by cooking."

Dr. Gross has worked at Carleton College in the area of ​​Northover, Minnesota. He has collaborated with Tom Kuhn, Bernard Olsen and Debrina Decher from the University of Minnesota, and Carlton. Undergraduate Lisa Wang collaborated with the college to study the specific conditions that determine the air pollution caused by commercial cooking.

As a result of this study, two air quality management districts in the California State of the United States, namely the South Coast Air Quality Monitoring Area and the Gulf Air Quality Monitoring Area, have produced food for commercial use. The smoke emission has taken restrictive measures. In most parts of the Los Angeles Basin, local regulators have required commercial restaurants to use catalytic converters to minimize smoke particles from charcoal grilling.

Dr. Gross and Lisa Wang have begun to obtain the coveted food flavor chemical properties from the cooking process. They used a special method to measure the solid and liquid suspended particles produced during the cooking process and analyze their chemical and physical characteristics. They used typical commercial cooking utensils in the experimental kitchen of the University of Minnesota. The cooking process involved using ovens to make pizza, using a grill to make steaks, and making hamburgers on pans, charcoal grills, and other utensils.

In a commercial kitchen, what is the largest amount of pollutants emitted into the air during the production process? The answer is to cook high-fat foods under high temperature conditions, especially when using an open flame, such as placing a barbecue tray on an open fire to make patties. According to Kuhn's previous research, using this cooking method, 25 pounds of smoke was emitted for every 1000 pounds of chicken pie. However, making 1,000 pounds of pepperoni pizza in a closed oven produced only 3 pounds of smoke. In addition, the use of certain cooking oils can also increase emissions. Processing 1,000 pounds of chicken food in a wok, using peanut oil, will produce 45 pounds of emissions.

"These experiments help us evaluate which processes that are done under standardized laboratory conditions can be used for actual cooking. In addition, these experiments can also help us find a better way to control the smoke emissions from cooking," said Gross. . "Combined with other testing methods, we can get a more comprehensive understanding of the chemical and physical characteristics of the flue gas emitted from different cooking activities. These emissions not only affect the air quality, but also contain some of the well-known carcinogens."

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a non-profit organization franchised by the United States Congress. The organization has more than 161,000 members and is the largest scientific research community in the world. The agency has a large number of professional databases, publishes professional magazines that have been peer-reviewed, holds large-scale professional academic conferences, and is a world leader in providing researchers with chemical-related research resources. Its main offices are located in Washington, DC, USA and Columbus, Ohio. (Wang Xiaobo)