Personal exposure assessment to deep-frying cooking-generated particulate matter using various cooking oils

Abstract

Cooking-generated particulate matter (PM) is important to study due to the health hazards caused to exposed individuals. Cooking oils have been reported as a significant contributor to cooking emissions. Moreover, deep-frying cooking has been shown to cause a significant increase in PM concentration. Thereby, a pilot study was conducted in controlled environmental conditions to assess personal exposure to deep-frying cooking-generated PM for five different types of oils, i.e., soybean, peanut, saffola, mustard, and olive oil. Concentrations of cooking-generated PM and their average daily dose (ADD) were evaluated for males and females. In addition, morphological and chemical analysis of cooking-generated PM was also conducted. The findings of this study indicated that PM emissions were the highest for olive oil, followed by mustard, saffola, and peanut, and the lowest for soybean oil. Moreover, ADD was found more in females than males because of the lesser inhalation rate to body weight ratio of females. Results of the morphological analysis of cooking-generated PM revealed a variety of particle shapes, including spherical, rod, and irregular particles for the various oils. Moreover, chemical composition analysis showed a number of toxic elements present in oils, such as Zn, Cr, Ba, and Al. Importantly, the lowest percentage of toxic elements was observed in olive oil, indicating that olive oil is the most healthy option for cooking. Overall, this study's results provide valuable insights into the personal exposure associated with Indian cooking conditions in order to develop mitigation strategies for harmful cooking fumes.