Cooking fumes from commercial kitchens have long caused concern for those who live near them. Foodstuffs such as meat, fat, sugar, starch or oil can produce carbonaceous particles when cooked quickly at high temperatures. Carbonaceous particles discharged to the atmosphere can have significant environmental and health impacts, through lowering visibility and the health impact of fine particles on human beings. In this paper, we report a territorial-wide survey on the quantification of cooking fumes discharged from commercial kitchens of Chinese restaurants, Western restaurants and exotic food servicing areas. Results show that cooking fumes contain a wide spectrum of organic compounds including n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), fatty acids (FAs) and aromatic amines (AAs). It should be noted that commercial kitchens differ considerably in size, modes of operations, raw materials, cooking practices and air pollution control equipment. Our analytical results indicate that there is no statistically significant difference on the composition of their discharge in terms of carcinogenic elements such as PAHs, but at the 5% significance level, the mean concentrations of n-alkanes at the discharge points of exotic food servicing areas are higher than at the discharges of Chinese or Western restaurants.
Zheng M , Wan TSM , Fang M , Wang F : Characterization of the non-volatile organic compounds in the aerosols of Hong Kong - identification, abundance and origin : Atmos Environ1997;31: 227-237 .
2.
Zheng M , Fang M , Wang F , To KL : Characterization of the solvent extractable organic compounds in PM2.5 aerosols in Hong Kong : Atmos Environ2000;34: 2691-2702 .
3.
Hildemann LM , Markowski GR , Cass GR : Chemical composition of emissions from urban sources of fine organic aerosol : Environ Sci Technol1991;25: 744-759 .
4.
Rogge WF , Hildemann LM , Mazurek MA , Cass GR , Simoneit BRT : Sources of fine organic aerosol: 1. Charbroilers and meat cooking operations : Environ Sci Technol1991;25: 1112-1125 .
5.
Rogge WF , Hildemann LM , Mazurek MA , Cass GR , Simoneit BRT : Sources of fine organic aerosol: 2. Noncatalyst and catalyst-equipped automobiles and heavy-duty diesel trucks : Environ Sci Technol1993;27: 636-651 .
6.
Rogge WF , Hildemann LM , Mazurek MA , Cass GR , Simoneit BRT : Sources of fine organic aerosol: 3. Road dust, tire debris, and organometallic brake lining dust - roads as sources and sinks : Environ Sci Technol1993;27: 1892-1904 .
7.
Rogge WF , Hildemann LM , Mazurek MA , Cass GR : Sources of fine organic aerosol: 4. Particulate abrasion products from leaf surfaces of urban plants : Environ Sci Technol1993; 27: 2700-2711 .
8.
Rogge WF , Hildemann LM , Mazurek MA , Cass GR , Simoneit BRT : Sources of fine organic aerosol: 5. Natural gas home appliances : Environ Sci Technol1993;27: 2736-2744 .
9.
Rogge WF , Hildemann LM , Mazurek MA , Cass GR , Simoneit BRT : Sources of fine organic aerosol: 6. Cigarette smoke in the urban atmosphere : Environ Sci Technol1994;28: 1375-1388 .
10.
Rogge WF , Hildemann LM , Mazurek MA , Cass GR , Simoneit BRT : Sources of fine organic aerosol: 7. Hot asphalt roofing tar pot fumes : Environ Sci Technol1997;32: 13-22 .
11.
Rogge WF , Hildemann LM , Mazurek MA , Cass GR , Simoneit BRT : Sources of fine organic aerosol: 8. Boilers burning no. 2 distillate fuel oil : Environ Sci Technol1997;32: 13-22 .
12.
Rogge WF , Hildemann LM , Mazurek MA , Cass GR , Simoneit BRT : Sources of fine organic aerosol: 9. Pine, oak and synthetic: log combustion in residential fireplaces : Environ Sci Technol1998;32: 13-22 .
13.
Hannigan MP , Cass GR , Lafleur AL , Busby Jr WF , Thilly WG : Seasonal and spatial variation of the bacterial mutagenicity of fine organic aerosol in southern California : Environ Hlth Perspect1996;104: 428-436 .
14.
Rogge WF , Hildemann LM , Mazurek MA , Cass GR , Simoneit BRT : Quantification of urban organic aerosol at a molecular level: identification, abundance and seasonal variation : Atmos Environ1993;27A: 1309-1330 .
15.
Schauer JJ , Rogge WF , Hildemann LM , Mazurek MA , Cass GR : Source apportionment of airborne particulate matter using organic compounds as tracers : Atmos Environ1996;30: 3837-3855 .
16.
McDonald JD , Zielinska B , Fujita EM , Chow JC , Watson JG , Sagebiel J , Hayes T , Sheetz L , Batie S : Chemical speciation of PM2.5 emissions from residential wood combustion and meat cooking : Air and Waste Manage Assoc (AWMA) Special Conference on PM2.5: A Fine Particulate Standard, Long Beach, CA, 1998.
17.
McDonald JD , Zielinska B , Fujita EM , Sage-biel JC , Chow JC , Watson JG : Emissions from charbroiling and grilling of chicken and beef : J Air Waste Manag Assoc2003;53: 185-194 .
18.
Gao YT , Blot WJ , Zheng W , Ershow AG , Hsu CW , Levin LI , Zhang R , Fraumeni Jr, JF : Lung cancer among Chinese women : Int. J. Cancer1987;40: 604-609 .
19.
He X , Chen W , Liu Z , Dai XD , Chapman RS : An epidemiologic study of lung cancer in Xuan Wei County, China: current progress: a case-control study on lung cancer and cooking fuel : Environ Hlth Perspect1991;94: 9-13 .
20.
Wang GX : Multivariate analyses of causal factors included cooking oil fumes and others in matched case-control study of lung cancer : Chin J Prev Med1992;26: 89-91 .
21.
Dai XD , Lin CY , Sun XW , Shi YB , Lin YJ : The etiology of lung cancer in non-smoking females in Harbin, China : Lung Cancer1996;14: S85-S90 .
22.
Wang TJ , Zhou BS , Shi JP : Lung cancer in non-smoking Chinese women: a case-control study : Lung Cancer1996;14: S93-S98 .
23.
Shen XB , Wang GX , Huang YZ , Xiang LS , Wang XH : Analysis and estimates of attributable risk factors for lung cancer in Nanjing, China : Lung Cancer1996;14: S107-S112 .
24.
Zhong L , Goldberg MS , Gao YT , Jin F : Lung cancer and indoor air pollution arising from Chinese-style cooking among non-smoking women living in Shanghai, China : Epidemiol1999;10(5): 488-494 .
25.
Metayer C , Wang Z , Kleinerman RA , Wang L , Brenner AV , Cui H , Cao J , Lubin JH : Cooking oil fumes and risk of lung cancer in women in rural Gansu, China : Lung Cancer2002;35(2): 111-117 .
26.
Ko YC , Cheng LS , Lee CH , Huang JJ , Huang MS , Kao EL , Wang HZ , Lin HJ : Chinese food cooking and lung cancer in women nonsmokers : Am J Epidemiol2000;151: 140-147 .
27.
Qu YH , Xu GX , Zhou JZ , Du YX : Genotoxicity of heated cooking oil vapors : Mutat Res1992;298(2): 105-111 .
28.
Shields PG , Xu GX , Blot WJ , Fraumeni JF , Trivers GE , Pellizzar ED , Qu YH , Gao YT , Harris CC : Mutagens from heated Chinese and US cooking oils : J Natl Cancer Inst1995;87: 836-841 .
29.
Pellizari ED , Michael LC , Thomas KW , Shields PG , Harris C : Identification of 1,3 butadiene, benzene, and other volatile organics from wok oil emissions : J Exp Anal Environ Epidemiol1995;5: 77-87 .
30.
Li S , Pan D , Wang G : Analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in cooking oil fumes : Arch Environ Hlth1994;49: 119-122 .
31.
Siegmann K , Sattler K : Aerosol from hot cooking oil, a possible health hazard : J Aerosol Sci1996;27: S493-S494 .
32.
Chiang TA , Wu PF , Wang LF , Lee H , Lee CH , Ko YC : Mutagenicity and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon content of fumes from heated cooking oils produced in Taiwan : Mutat Res1997;381(2): 157-161 .
33.
Chiang TA , Wu PF , Ko YC : Prevention of exposure to mutagenic fumes produced by hot cooking oil in Taiwanese kitchens : Environ Mol Mutagen1998;31(1): 92-96 .
34.
Chiang TA , Wu PF , Ying LS , Wang LF , Ko YC : Mutagenicity and aromatic amine content of fumes from heated cooking oil produced in Taiwan : Food Chem Toxicol1999;37(2-3): 125-134 .
35.
Zhu L , Wang J : Sources and patterns of poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons pollution in kitchen air, China : Chemosphere2003;50(5): 611-618 .
36.
Nolte CG , Schauer JJ , Cass GR , Simoneit BRT : Highly polar organic compounds present in meat smoke : Environ Sci Technol1999;33: 3313-3316 .
37.
Schauer JJ , Kleeman MJ , Cass GR , Simoneit BRT : Measurement of emissions from air pollution sources: 4. C1-C27 organic compounds from cooking with seed oils : Environ Sci Technol2002;36: 567-575 .
38.
To WM , Yeung LL , Chao YH : Characterisation of gas phase organic emissions from hot cooking oil in commercial kitchens : Indoor Built Environ2000;9: 228-232 .
39.
Li CT , Lin YC , Lee WJ , Tsai PJ : Emission of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their carcinogenic potencies from cooking sources to the urban atmosphere : Environ Hlth Perspect2003;111: 483-487 .
40.
Census and Statistics Department: Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics 2004. Hong Kong Government Logistics Department 2005.
41.
Gundel LA , Lee VC , Mahanama KRR , Stevens RK , Daisey JM : Direct determination of the phase distribution of semi-volatile poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using annular denuders : Atmos Environ1995;29: 1719-1733 .
