Advisory Committee Chair
Jonghwa Oh
Advisory Committee Members
Claudiu Lungu
Kristina Zierold
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
1-1-2025
Degree Name by School
Master of Public Health (MPH) School of Public Health
Abstract
Background: In the restaurant environment, there are many harmful contaminants generated during the cooking process that kitchen workers are potentially exposed to. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the potential exposure to aldehydes and respirable particles among restaurant kitchen workers and to examine the ventilation performance of the kitchen exhaust hoods. Methods: There were three restaurants recruited for this study and they cooked seafood/poultry (Restaurant 1), farm style foods (Restaurant 2), and finger foods (Restaurant 3). The three restaurants had wall-mounted canopy hoods. Restaurant 1 had two hoods, Restaurant 2 had two hoods, and Restaurant 3 had one hood. Area sampling was conducted at the height of breathing zone for respirable particles using an optical particle counter and aldehydes using a passive sampler. One particle counter was placed either between or in front of the hood(s) and two aldehyde monitors were attached to the left and right (side) hoods. The sampling was performed for an entire work shift and repeated three times at each restaurant. 11 aldehydes were analyzed according to the relevant standard methods. A thermo-anemometer was used to measure the air velocity at the exhaust hoods and a flow rate was determined. Findings: The three-day average respirable particle concentration range was 0.011-0.018 for Restaurant 1, 0.020 to 0.150 for Restaurant 2, and 0.010 to 0.470 mg/m³ for Restaurant 3. Butyraldehyde had the highest average concentrations in all three restaurants and the concentration of right/left samplers was 277.35±16.32 / 329.62±40.09 for Restaurant 1, 176.65±49.90 / 308.96±18.16 for Restaurant 2, and 409.32±31.60 / 381.34±30.35 µg/m³ for Restaurant 3. The average flow rate per linear meter was 327 and 244 for the left and right hoods, respectively, in Restaurant 1, 236 and 408 for the left and right hoods, respectively, in Restaurant 2, 280 L/s in Restaurant 3. Conclusion: The respirable particle concentrations were below the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Permissible Exposure Limit (OSHA PEL) of 5 mg/m³. All aldehydes were below the respective occupational exposure limits. 3 out of 5 restaurant exhaust hoods were below the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air- Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recommendations.
Recommended Citation
Hanvey, Matthew Kaleb, "Occupational Exposure To Cooking Emissions And Evaluation Of Ventilation System In Restaurant Kitchens" (2025). All ETDs from UAB. 6844.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/6844
Comments
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