Fingerprinting the emissions of volatile organic compounds emitted from the cooking of oils, herbs, and spices

TY - JOUR

T1 - Fingerprinting the emissions of volatile organic compounds emitted from the cooking of oils, herbs, and spices

AU - Kumar, Ashish

AU - O'Leary, Catherine

AU - Winkless, Ruth

AU - Thompson, Matthew

AU - Davies, Helen L.

AU - Shaw, Marvin

AU - Andrews, Stephen J.

AU - Carslaw, Nicola

AU - Dillon, Terry J.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

PY - 2024/12/23

Y1 - 2024/12/23

N2 - Emission rates for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been quantified from frying, spice and herb cooking, and cooking a chicken curry, using real-time selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) for controlled, laboratory-based experiments in a semi-realistic kitchen. Emissions from 7 different cooking oils were investigated during the frying of wheat flatbread (puri). These emissions were dominated by ethanol, octane, nonane and a variety of aldehydes, including acetaldehyde, heptenal and hexanal, and the average concentration of acetaldehyde (0.059-0.296 mg m−3) and hexanal (0.059-0.307 mg m−3) measured during the frying was 2-10 times higher than the recommended limits for indoor environments. Total VOC emission rates were greatest for ghee (14 mg min−1), and lowest for groundnut oil (8 mg min−1). In a second series of experiments, 16 herbs and spices were individually shallow-fried in rapeseed oil. Over 100 VOCs were identified by offline gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and absolute emission rates as well as oxidant reactivity for a subset of four spices were determined. These experiments allowed distinct indoor air quality profiles to be calculated for individual oils, herbs and spices, which were used to inform and interpret more realistic cooking experiments where a full recipe of chicken curry was prepared. Total-mass VOC emissions from chicken curry were dominated by methanol (62%), monoterpenes (13%) and ethanol (10%). Additionally, a clear relationship between the cooking events and the chemical classes of VOC was observed, e.g. heating the oil (aldehydes), frying spices (monoterpenes) and adding vegetables (alcohols).

AB - Emission rates for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been quantified from frying, spice and herb cooking, and cooking a chicken curry, using real-time selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) for controlled, laboratory-based experiments in a semi-realistic kitchen. Emissions from 7 different cooking oils were investigated during the frying of wheat flatbread (puri). These emissions were dominated by ethanol, octane, nonane and a variety of aldehydes, including acetaldehyde, heptenal and hexanal, and the average concentration of acetaldehyde (0.059-0.296 mg m−3) and hexanal (0.059-0.307 mg m−3) measured during the frying was 2-10 times higher than the recommended limits for indoor environments. Total VOC emission rates were greatest for ghee (14 mg min−1), and lowest for groundnut oil (8 mg min−1). In a second series of experiments, 16 herbs and spices were individually shallow-fried in rapeseed oil. Over 100 VOCs were identified by offline gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and absolute emission rates as well as oxidant reactivity for a subset of four spices were determined. These experiments allowed distinct indoor air quality profiles to be calculated for individual oils, herbs and spices, which were used to inform and interpret more realistic cooking experiments where a full recipe of chicken curry was prepared. Total-mass VOC emissions from chicken curry were dominated by methanol (62%), monoterpenes (13%) and ethanol (10%). Additionally, a clear relationship between the cooking events and the chemical classes of VOC was observed, e.g. heating the oil (aldehydes), frying spices (monoterpenes) and adding vegetables (alcohols).

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85214015022&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1039/d4em00579a

DO - 10.1039/d4em00579a

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85214015022

SN - 2050-7887

JO - Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts

JF - Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts

ER -