GC-MS Analysis of Pollutants in NYC Restaurant Air

Researchers seeking to characterize pollutants within Western-style commercial kitchens to better understand the potential for these exposures to influence adverse health outcomes measured the types and levels of harmful pollutants present in 18 New York City restaurants. Over the course of eight-hour periods, researchers tracked fine particle levels in both the kitchen and dining areas and analyzed what those particles contained. Air samples were also collected and examined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to identify the specific chemical compounds present in the restaurant air. A paper based on this work was published in Environmental Science & Technology.¹

What Makes Kitchen Environments a Source of Air Pollution?

Air pollution typically comes from burning fuel or industrial activity and tends to be worst wherever humans are most active. Commercial kitchens are a prime example. Studies have shown that cooking produces a complex cocktail of harmful substances, the result of high heat transforming everyday ingredients and oils into something far less appetizing.² These are generally referred to as cooking emissions or cooking fumes, and they contain a range of pollutants including fine particles, chemical compounds, and trace metals that can be dangerous to breathe in.^3-5 Almost every cooking method (including but not limited to grilling, frying, roasting, sautéing, searing, baking, and toasting) releases these particles into the air. When oils, proteins, and carbohydrates break down under heat, they produce smoke laced with harmful chemicals. Burning fuel at high temperatures creates gases that can react with other airborne compounds to form new pollutants. Inefficient burners or degraded cooking oils add yet another layer of soot-like particles to the mix. Most of these particles start out microscopic, but they quickly clump together into larger ones depending on the humidity, temperature, and airflow in the kitchen.^2-5

What Did This Study Find About Air Quality in Restaurant Kitchens, and What Does It Mean for Workers?

This study measured the types and levels of air content in the restaurants where testing took place, specifically volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), and black carbon (BC) . Researchers also looked at how pollution levels varied across different areas of the restaurants, and whether levels differed depending on the day of the week, in eight additional locations.¹

In kitchens, fine particle levels were nearly five times higher than what the World Health Organization considers safe for everyday air quality (and, in some restaurants, levels spiked to hundreds of times above that threshold during peak cooking). While these readings technically stayed within the legal workplace limits set by U.S. occupational safety regulators, those limits are widely considered a low bar for long-term health protection. Benzene, a chemical known to cause cancer, was also regularly detected in kitchen air, though some of the other harmful compounds tested for were not consistently found.¹

^“This environment,” write the authors of the paper,¹ “with a documented history of high temperatures, loud noise levels, and longer working hours leading to longer exposures, could be dangerous for the long-term health of its employees. These results, plus emerging air pollution data, paint a concerning picture of the exposome for restaurant staff, particularly kitchen workers.”

The researchers suggest that future studies should focus on the health impacts on restaurant workers, take a closer look at the full range of harmful chemicals found in cooking air, compare the pollution produced by gas versus electric cooking, and test how well ventilation systems and other practical solutions actually work at cleaning up kitchen air.¹

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References

1. Saporito, A. F.; Hashmi, M.; Yu, W. et al. Occupational Exposures in the Culinary Underbelly: Air Pollution in Restaurants. Environ Sci Technol. 2026. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5c18025
2. Abdullahi, K. L.; Delgado-Saborit, J. M.; Harrison, R. M. Emissions and Indoor Concentrations of Particulate Matter and Its Specific Chemical Components from Cooking: A Review. Atmos. Environ. 2013, 71, 260– 294, DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.01.061
3. Coggon, M. M.; Stockwell, C. E.; Xu, L. et al. Contribution of Cooking Emissions to the Urban Volatile Organic Compounds in Las Vegas, NV. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 2024, 24 (7), 4289– 4304, DOI: 10.5194/acp-24-4289-2024
4. Pikmann, J.; Drewnick, F.; Fachinger, F. et al. Borrmann, S. Particulate Emissions from Cooking: Emission Factors, Emission Dynamics, and Mass Spectrometric Analysis for Different Cooking Methods. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 2024, 24 (21), 12295– 12321, DOI: 10.5194/acp-24-12295-2024
5. Chiang, K.-M.; Xiu, L.; Peng, C.-Y. et al. Lung, S.-C. C.; Chen, Y.-C.; Pan, W.-H. Particulate Matters, Aldehydes, and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Produced from Deep-Frying Emissions: Comparisons of Three Cooking Oils with Distinct Fatty Acid Profiles. npj Sci. Food 2022, 6 (1), 28. DOI: 10.1038/s41538-022-00143-5