Kitchen air pollution tackled in University of Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research
Advice on improving indoor air quality when cooking has been published by the University of Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), aimed at occupants, builders, landlords and local councils across the globe. The advice is presented as ten general recommendations and ten, more technical, targeted recommendations.
Professor Prashant Kumar from the University of Surrey, who led the research that informed the guidelines, said: ‘Few people think about the fumes generated by cooking meals for their family, but the associated health risks are all too real. However, simple actions can improve home health significantly. For example, opening a window, steaming rather than frying, and keeping those who aren’t actively cooking out of the kitchen can protect people from inhaling harmful toxins.’
The research was carried out across 19 countries, studying the effects of cooking in 60 low-income homes across Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa. They found that frying food resulted in more than a 50% increase in PM emissions.
Professor Kumar again: ‘Frying is the most particle-emitting activity that can contribute to more than 50% of the total harmful fine particulate matter emissions during cooking. Using extraction fans and keeping doors and windows open during cooking can reduce exposure to harmful fumes by 2-times compared to keeping just the doors open.’
The general recommendations covers issues such as using cleaner fuels, not having other people in the kitchen unnecessarily and ventilating the room effectively. The targeted suggestions are aimed at variously, homeowners, builders and local councils and include advice such as councils subsidising the installation of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter monitors in kitchens.
Professor Kumar: ‘In the UK, housing authorities could include a safety sheet in kitchens advising on healthy and safe cooking practices and facilitate the installation of extraction fans in their properties. Architects could design kitchens with a separate but spacious area adjacent to where toddlers can be supervised during cooking without breathing fumes. In some countries, priority must be given to phasing out harmful fuels like charcoal and kerosene and subsidising cleaner cooking fuels and options.’
In December we speculated on how much cooking your Christmas dinner might affect your health
Image: Malte Helmhold
Sounds good but might be difficult in practice. Children enjoy helping with the cookingand it’s how they learn. I think good ventilation is the answer. Unless that lets in road pollution and smoke, of course. If you have an extractor hood over the hob you have to keep it clean. And something not mentioned here is all the chemical cleaning products in the kitchen, especially the sprays. Do they interact with the hot fat particles? And what about oven cleaner? Thanks for this but tell us more, please.
The obvious is missing with this study. It assumes the outdoor air is clean.
“Using extraction fans and keeping doors and windows open during cooking can reduce exposure to harmful fumes by 2-times compared to keeping just the doors open.”
What about in areas where you cannot open doors and windows?
Range hoods, extraction fans and air purifiers suck in outdoor air and if this is filled with smoke you could very well be creating much worse conditions inside the home, deadly in fact.
Good point, Clive, especially if you live near a busy road or if your neighbours are burning wood and rubbish. But what’s the solution?
Clive you need to remove air purifiers from your list – I’ve seen you repeating this elsewhere … portable stand alone air purifiers do not draw in outside pollutants. In a leaky house like mine pollutants will enter and having the air purifier running during pollution events means at least my indoor air is cleaned.