A Strategy for Field Evaluations of Exposures and Respiratory Health of Workers at Small- to Medium-Sized Coffee Facilities

Abstract

Coffee production is a global industry with roasteries throughout the world. Workers in this industry are exposed to complex mixtures of gases, dusts, and vapors including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, coffee dust, allergens, alpha-diketones, and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Adverse respiratory health outcomes such as respiratory symptoms, reduced pulmonary function, asthma, and obliterative bronchiolitis can occur among exposed workers. In response to health hazard evaluations requests received from 17 small- to medium-sized coffee facilities across the United States, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health conducted investigations during 2016–2017 to understand the burden of respiratory abnormalities, exposure characteristics, relationships between exposures and respiratory effects, and opportunities for exposure mitigation. Full-shift, task-based, and instantaneous personal and area air samples for diacetyl, 2,3-pentanedione and other VOCs were collected, and engineering controls were evaluated. Medical evaluations included questionnaire, spirometry, impulse oscillometry, and fractional exhaled nitric oxide. Exposure and health assessments were conducted using standardized tools and approaches, which enabled pooling data for aggregate analysis. The pooled data provided a larger population to better address the requestors' concern of the effect of exposure to alpha-diketones on the respiratory heath of coffee workers. This paper describes the rationale for the exposure and health assessment strategy, the approach used to achieve the study objectives, and its advantages and limitations.

Impacts of risk assessment data, assumptions, and methods: Considering the evidence for diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione

“…To date, the epidemiologic evidence of associations between diacetyl and respiratory morbidity has largely come from occupational exposures to flavoring additives, while associations between 2,3-pentanedione and respiratory outcomes have not previously been evaluated in epidemiologic investigations. In the studies included as part of this research topic on exposures and respiratory health in coffee workers ( 7 ), exposures to diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione from both flavoring and non-flavoring coffee workers have been characterized, offering the potential to inform our understanding of the impact of both diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione on respiratory morbidity. These peer-reviewed articles represent a significant contribution to the body of knowledge regarding respiratory effects of exposure to relatively low levels of α-diketones emitted naturally from roasting and grinding coffee as well as from added flavoring chemicals in processing flavored coffee.…”

“…In these cases, risk assessors may conduct additional analyses or new assessments to improve our understanding of health effects resulting from occupational exposures. A recently published series of articles describes investigations of occupational exposures, focusing on α-diketones, and respiratory health among workers employed at small and medium-sized coffee roasting and packaging facilities ( 7 ). Diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione exposures in these investigations were found to exceed the NIOSH REL, particularly among groups of workers whose tasks included grinding, flavoring, and packaging coffee ( 8 ).…”

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis against the background of the use of organic substances, probably mustard powder (clinical case)

“…Workers in this industry are exposed to complex mixtures of gases, dusts and vapors, including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, coffee dust, allergens, alpha-diketones and other volatile organic compounds. Exposed workers may experience adverse respiratory health effects, such as respiratory symptoms, decreased pulmonary function, asthma, and bronchiolitis [15].…”