New Recommendations to Monitor Coffee Roasters for Potential Lung Disease
Bronchiolitis obliterans is commonly referred to as “popcorn lung” because several popcorn factory workers died when they developed the disease after occupational exposure to alpha-diketones from the butter flavoring. However, popcorn processors are not the only factory workers at risk to be exposed to hazardous levels of alpha-diketones at work. Preventing environmental exposure to airborne alpha-diketones is crucial because, the symptoms of bronchiolitis obliterans can be quite severe—even fatal—many patients who develop severe bronchiolitis obliterans require a lung transplant.