HETA 2001-0517, letter to B. K. Heuermann Popcorn, Inc., Phillips, Nebraska

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kanwal, Richard ; Martin, Stephen B. Jr.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  On August 28, 2001, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) received a health hazard evaluation (HHE) request from management at B.K. Heuermann Popcorn, Inc. to evaluate work processes and exposures occurring during the packaging of microwave popcorn. This request was motivated in part by the fact that several workers experienced eye injuries and cough while using a new flavoring in August 2001. The worker that prepares the mixture of oil, flavorings, salt, and coloring, was found to have fixed airways obstruction on evaluation by a pulmonologist soon after this event. NIOSH investigators visited your plant on September 27, 2001, to perform an initial walkthrough, conduct an opening meeting with management and workers, and conduct confidential worker interviews and lung function testing with spirometry. A NIOSH industrial hygiene survey was conducted from December 11 to December 13, 2001. An interim letter containing medical findings, preliminary air sampling results, and recommendations, was sent to you on April 19, 2002. The current letter provides additional air sampling results, additional background information on flavoring-related lung disease in the microwave popcorn industry, and updated recommendations. It also constitutes the final report for this health hazard evaluation.
• Subjects:
  Asthma Asthma, Occupational Butanones Chronic Disease Coloring Agents Dust Fatigue Food Additives Food Handling Food Industry Irritants Lung Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Radiography Respiratory Function Tests Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Smokers

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• Keywords:
  Airway-obstruction Bronchial-asthma Chemicals In Flavorings Chest-X-rays Chronic-inflammation Employee-exposure Flavorings Flavorings, Extracts, And Flavoring Syrups, NEC Food-additives Food-colors Food-processing Hazard-Confirmed Ketones Lung-irritants Medical-screening Organic-chemicals OSHA Region 7 Pulmonary-function-tests Pulmonary-system-disorders Respirable-dust Respiratory-irritants Respiratory-system-disorders Smoking Volatiles

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• Source:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 2001-0517-letter, 2003 May ; :1-18
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA20010517letter
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Nebraska ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  18 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Hartle, Richard
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20030366
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2006-112870
• CAS Registry Number:
  Diacetyl (CAS RN 431-03-8) ; Methyl ethyl ketone [MEK] (CAS RN 78-93-3)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  31199 - All Other Food Manufacturing - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:827a43e8aa13b309d5e31ff6dd678a2f361efb14e6787bbbebd96363f632544b46141e07851bfb4dbbbb6c1ff1df4f80d31fd984779e5e9bbe35ebcd1243ffc2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172629/cdc_172629_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.65 MB ]