Company to Alter Microwave Popcorn Recipe

By JOSH FUNK

The change comes amid concern of a possible health risk from a butter flavoring ingredient.

OMAHA, Neb. — The country’s largest maker of microwave popcorn, ConAgra Foods Inc., said Wednesday that it would change the recipe for its Orville Redenbacher and Act II brands over the next year to remove a flavoring chemical linked to a lung ailment in popcorn plant workers.

The announcement comes a day after a report that a doctor at a leading lung research hospital had told federal regulators that consumers, not just factory workers, may be in danger from fumes from buttery flavoring in microwave popcorn.

ConAgra’s spokeswoman Stephanie Childs said the company decided in recent months to remove the butter flavoring diacetyl from its popcorn because of the risk the chemical presents to workers who handle large quantities.

Diacetyl has been linked to cases of bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare life-threatening disease often called popcorn lung.

Another popcorn manufacturer, Weaver Popcorn Co. of Indianapolis, said a week earlier that it would replace the butter flavoring ingredient because of consumer concern.

Childs said ConAgra doesn’t know how soon it will be able to replace diacetyl with a different butter flavoring, but the change will be made during the next year.

The Omaha company has already been making changes at its plants over the past few years to reduce employee exposure to diacetyl, she said.

But the company doesn’t believe diacetyl in popcorn represents a risk to consumers, she said.

It was reported Tuesday that a pulmonary specialist at Denver’s National Jewish Medical and Research Center had written to federal health agencies to say that doctors at the hospital believe they have the first case of a consumer who developed lung disease from the fumes of microwaving popcorn several times a day for years.

Dr. Cecile Rose sent the letter in July.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that the first government study of what fumes are produced by microwaving popcorn at home is to be published as soon as this month.

The two-year EPA study was completed in late 2005 and has been under wraps since, prompting critics to charge that the agency was protecting industry interests. But an EPA spokeswoman said the delay was due to a string of requirements including scientific review, submission of the report to industry and the time it took to get into a scientific journal.

The spokeswoman, Suzanne Ackerman, said the paper was recently accepted for publication as early as this month in a major scientific journal that she would not name.

The EPA denied a Freedom of Information request last fall from the AP for the report, arguing that it was a draft still under review. The agency has not yet answered an AP appeal of that rejection.

Ackerman confirmed that the study had already been submitted to popcorn makers. She said that was done to let companies make sure the report contained no competitive secrets. EPA scientists signed nondisclosure agreements with industry members in return for lists of ingredients the makers use in the popcorn and the packaging.

The report, “Emissions From Cooking Microwave Popcorn,” is not a study of the health effects of diacetyl or any other fumes on consumers. Instead, it looks at exactly what gases, including diacetyl, are produced in what amounts when consumers microwave popcorn.

The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association said that Rose’s finding does not suggest a risk from eating microwave popcorn. The concern instead focuses on workers inhaling diacetyl in factories — either in making it or adding it to food products.

The association, based in Washington, has said several flavor manufacturers are either researching alternatives to diacetyl or are already marketing butter flavors free of the chemical.

The trade group noted that diacetyl occurs naturally in foods such as butter, cheese and fruits.

ConAgra Foods Inc: www.conagrafoods.com

Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association: www.femaflavor.org

Originally published by JOSH FUNK Associated Press.

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