Objectives: The aim of the study was to see if a cook could be exposed to mutagenic aldehydes in fumes from frying of beefsteak using margarine, rapeseed oil, soybean oil or virgin olive oil as frying fat. In addition, levels of particle exposure were measured to make the results comparable to other studies.
Methods: The levels of higher aldehydes and total particles were measured in the breathing zone of the cook during the panfrying of beefsteak with the four different frying fats. In addition, the number of particles in the size intervals 0.3-0.5, 0.5-0.7 and 0.7-1.0 microm in the kitchen was registered.
Results: Measured levels of mutagenic aldehydes were between non-detectable and 25.33 microg m(-3) air. The exposure level of total aerosol was between 1.0 and 11.6 mg m(-3).
Conclusions: Higher aldehydes were detected in all samples from this study, and mutagenic aldehydes were detected in most of the samples. Frying with margarine gave statistically significantly higher levels of mutagenic aldehydes and particles in all three size fractions than frying with the three different kinds of oil.