Fighting Our Killer Air - A Citizens' Charter
  • Home/
  • Smell Of Cooking Food Is Possibly Polluting The Air You Breathe, Finds Study

Smell Of Cooking Food Is Possibly Polluting The Air You Breathe, Finds Study

Smell Of Cooking Food Is Possibly Polluting The Air You Breathe, Finds Study
Air pollution from cooking is vastly underestimated, researchers said. (Representative pic)

A new research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has found that the delicious smell of food cooking at restaurants, food trucks and street vendors might be negatively impacting air quality. Researchers at NOAA's Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL) released the startling findings from a multilayer study of what they call "underappreciated sources" of urban air pollution. They focused on three cities in the United States - Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Boulder in Colorado -  where they measured human-caused volatile organic compounds (VOCs) related to cooking. 

"If you can smell it, there's a good chance it's impacting air quality," researchers said in the study

For the research, experts measured all sorts of different VOCs across the US from different sources like vehicles, wildfire smoke, agriculture and consumer products. "We kept seeing a specific class of compound in the urban measurements, what we call long-chain aldehydes, that we couldn't explain from these other sources," study author Matt Coggon said. 

The researchers found that Las Vegas, which has one of the highest number of eateries in the United States, has persistent air quality issues. On average, 21% of the total mass of VOCs present in Vegas' outdoor air were from "cooking activities," NOAA estimated.

Also Read | People Are Breathing In Cancer-Causing Chemicals In Their Cars, Study Finds

The administration also found elevated levels of VOCs in Los Angeles and Pasadena, California. Overall, researchers concluded that air pollution from cooking is vastly underestimated and could account for nearly a quarter of VOCs in urban areas. The problem is even more acute indoors and inside homes, experts warned. 

"Cooking emissions could be the single largest missing source of urban VOCs in current air quality models, which could have important ramifications for air quality management," the study said. 

What this means for air quality management remains to be seen. But having the data, Mr Coggon believes, is the first step. "It's crucial to have the full picture of emissions and sources to help policymakers understand the effectiveness of their decisions," he said. 

Share this story on

Latest Stories

................................ Advertisement ................................

Latest Videos

Opinion

  • Opinion | Why Indians Have Just Given Up On Air Pollution Crisis

    Opinion | Why Indians Have Just Given Up On Air Pollution CrisisTanushree Ganguly

    Friday December 20, 2024

    While some may argue that people in Delhi are now more aware of air pollution than they were a decade back, my rebuttal would be that awareness does not mean that people are concerned.

  • Opinion | You Must Outrage Over Filthy Air More Than Once A Year

    Opinion | You Must Outrage Over Filthy Air More Than Once A YearJyoti Pande Lavakare

    Tuesday December 10, 2024

    Delhi welcomed us with monsoon rains and mangos. We were home. Fast forward a couple of years, in the winter of 2012, I found myself in denial about something other parents, mostly expats, were calling toxic air.

  • Opinion | Delhi's Air Pollution Situation Is Like A Bad Marriage

    Opinion | Delhi's Air Pollution Situation Is Like A Bad MarriageNishtha Gautam

    Friday November 22, 2024

    On a good day, such as today, the AQI reading in Delhi is 407. We are jubilant at the sickly sunshine trickling through the slightly dissipated smog. At least its not 1600.

  • दिवाली... पराली... सियासी जुगाली!

    दिवाली... पराली... सियासी जुगाली!Ashwini kumar

    Monday November 18, 2024

    दिल्ली-एनसीआर में प्रदूषण का समाधान तो आज तक मिला नहीं. हर साल चिंतित होकर हम-आप सांसों की तकलीफ के साथ-साथ दिल और ब्लड प्रेशर के मरीज भी क्यों बनें?

  • घर में कैद बुजुर्ग और हांफते लोग, दिल्ली की सांसों में घुला ये कैसा रोग?

    घर में कैद बुजुर्ग और हांफते लोग, दिल्ली की सांसों में घुला ये कैसा रोग?Nidhi Kulpati

    Friday November 08, 2024

    हमारी हवा जहरीली हो रही है. गुरुवार की शाम को जब मैं इस मुद्दे पर लिखने बैठी तो AQI लगातार 400 पार  जाकर दम घोंट रहा था. बहुत लोगों को यह मामला बोरिंग लगे, लेकिन जब आप अपने साथ काम करने वालों को खांसते-हांफते देखते-सुनते हैं, तो चिंता होने लगती है. सुबह उठते ही दरवाजे खिड़कियां खोलने के लिए डॉक्टर मना कर रहे हैं. बड़े बुजुर्गों के लिए तो मॉर्निंग वॉक बाहर की दुनिया से सीधे संपर्क का ज़रिया है, लेकिन डॉक्टर इसकी भी मनाही कर रहे हैं.