HSE seeks truth on cancer fumes risk

By Angela Frewin

THE Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to launch an investigation into whether cooking fumes pose a significant cancer risk to kitchen staff.

The body is to look at a dozen hotel kitchens and food factories to measure the risks from inhaling toxic chemicals contained in the fumes, after rejecting existing studies as inadequate.

It is known that cooked meats, fish and oils contain a cocktail of potentially carcinogenic chemicals. It is also clear that cooking fumes, particularly from direct heating methods such as frying, grilling and stir-frying, contain some cancer-causing substances.

But the HSE has been unable to draw any firm conclusions of the health risk from existing epidemiological studies from around the world. A spokesman said that, while these studies did not indicate an increased risk for staff working in kitchens, they could not furnish conclusive proof.

Now the HSE wants to set up mobile laboratories in working kitchens and food plants to measure the intake of hazardous substances by cooks, as well as looking at the effectiveness of ventilation systems.

The spokesman added that, while occupational exposure limits had been set for some chemicals found in fumes, no limits had yet been established for cooking fumes as a whole.

The HSE estimates that 65% of commercial kitchens are inadequately ventilated. It suggests that the best protection against the potential risk from fumes is to install low-level rear extraction systems which draw fumes away from breathing level - a design used in fewer than 5% of catering kitchens.

Some systems also create a protective curtain of fresh air in front of the cooking zone.