Abstract
Introduction: Respiratory hazards in the coffee roasting and packaging industry can include asthmagens such as green coffee bean and other dust and alpha-diketones such as diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione that can occur naturally from roasting coffee or artificially from addition of flavoring to coffee. We sought to describe the burden of respiratory abnormalities among workers at 17 coffee roasting and packaging facilities.Methods: We completed medical surveys at 17 coffee roasting and packaging facilities that included interviewer-administered questionnaires and pulmonary function testing. We summarized work-related symptoms, diagnoses, and spirometry testing results among all participants. We compared health outcomes between participants who worked near flavoring and who did not.Results: Participants most commonly reported nose and eye symptoms, and wheeze, with a work-related pattern for some. Symptoms and pulmonary function tests were consistent with work-related asthma in some participants. About 5% of workers had abnormal spirometry and most improved after bronchodilator. Health outcomes were similar between employees who worked near flavoring and who did not, except employees who worked near flavoring reported more chronic bronchitis and ever receiving a diagnosis of asthma than those who did not work near flavoring.Conclusion: The symptoms and patterns likely represent overlapping health effects of different respiratory hazards, including green coffee bean and other dust that can contribute to work-related asthma, and diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione that can contribute to obliterative bronchiolitis. Healthcare providers and occupational health and safety practitioners should be aware that workers at coffee roasting and packaging facilities are potentially at risk for occupational lung diseases.
Highlights
Respiratory hazards in the coffee roasting and packaging industry can include asthmagens such as green coffee bean and other dust and alpha-diketones such as diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione that can occur naturally from roasting coffee or artificially from addition of flavoring to coffee
We evaluated 384 (58%) of 658 current workers from 17 coffee roasting and packaging facilities in 12 states during 2016–2017
The median number of years worked at the current facility was 2.8; 79 (21%) participants reported previously working at other coffee roasting and processing facilities or companies that use flavorings, and the median number of years worked at any coffee facility or company that uses flavorings was 3.5
Summary
Respiratory hazards in the coffee roasting and packaging industry can include asthmagens such as green coffee bean and other dust and alpha-diketones such as diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione that can occur naturally from roasting coffee or artificially from addition of flavoring to coffee. Five cases of obliterative bronchiolitis were diagnosed among former workers of a U.S coffee roasting and packaging facility during 2012–2015; two cases were confirmed by lung biopsy [1, 2]. This cluster of obliterative bronchiolitis was the first identified among workers in the coffee roasting and packaging industry. Occupational obliterative bronchiolitis was described in 2002 among workers at a microwave-popcorn production facility that used artificial butter flavoring containing diacetyl [5, 6]. Animal studies demonstrated another closely related compound, 2,3-pentanedione, causes similar toxicity and should not be considered a potential safe substitute for diacetyl by industry [14,15,16]
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