Cooks are susceptible to oil fume syndrome when exposed to carbon monoxide

Food is the most important thing for people! However, chefs who are responsible for cooking, seasoning and providing delicious food may suffer from chest tightness, dizziness, shortness of breath and other symptoms due to inhaling large amounts of carbon monoxide due to working in an environment filled with oil fumes for a long time. They may even develop "oil fume syndrome" diseases such as lung, eye and nasal mucosa diseases due to the irritation of oil fumes. Other occupational disease symptoms include stomach problems, varicose veins and wrist ganglion cysts, etc. The complexity and severity of these diseases are considered to be the second most hazardous occupational disease group after firefighters.

Chinese cuisine emphasizes frying, boiling, stir-frying and deep-frying, which easily produces high levels of oil smoke and causes occupational diseases such as respiratory tract, lungs, and eyes.

Oil is always necessary when cooking food, especially in Chinese cooking, which often uses frying, stir-frying, boiling and deep-frying, which easily produce a lot of oil smoke. Therefore, the small kitchen space is always filled with thick oil smoke and grease smell. Mainland scholars once analyzed cooking oil smoke particles and detected 196 pollutants, most of which are harmful to the human body. In addition, they monitored the carbon monoxide concentration in the air in school and restaurant kitchens and found that not only did it exceed the official mainland standard by nearly 20 times, but even the concentration of dust and sulfur dioxide exceeded the standard. At the same time, the researchers also found that the concentration of carbon monoxide in the exhaled gas of Chinese chefs was significantly higher than that of non-chefs, and nearly half of the chefs had abnormal electrocardiogram tests.

Studies have confirmed that carbon monoxide in the kitchen mainly comes from incomplete combustion of fuel and cooking fumes. If the environment is not well ventilated during cooking, it is easy for people to inhale it and cause "fume disease". Symptoms include loss of appetite, feeling hungry but having no taste for food, poor spirits, drowsiness, general weakness, eating very little but gradually gaining weight. In addition, long-term exposure to oil fumes can easily irritate the eyes, causing dryness, itching, blurred vision, conjunctival congestion, and even chronic conjunctivitis; it can irritate the nasal mucosa, leading to congestion, edema, runny nose, and loss of smell; it can also irritate the throat, causing chronic tracheitis, bronchitis, and even lung cancer.

Not only the "oil fume disease", but also the chefs often eat at irregular times or in irregular quantities due to the uncertainty of their working hours. Over time, this will cause digestive system dysfunction, leading to chronic gastritis and constipation. In severe cases, they may suffer from atrophic gastritis, and some may suffer from fatty liver, cholecystitis, and gallstones. There are also swelling, varicose veins and ischemic necrosis of the femoral head caused by poor blood circulation in the lower limbs due to standing for long periods of time. If combined with improper standing posture, lower back pain will often occur due to excessive bending of the lumbar spine.

In addition, chefs who use spatulas every day are prone to wrist ganglion cysts, inflammation, and pain because they have to grip, rotate, and bend their wrists. There are also phenomena of heat stroke, decreased sperm count and decreased fertility caused by high temperature environment. In addition, long-term exposure to high-decibel noise can reduce memory and learning ability, increase negative emotions, and reduce auditory and visual reaction speed and eye-hand coordination, and may even cause occupational deafness.