[News Terms] Cooking Fumes Causing Lung Cancer in School Meal Workers

'Cooking fume' refers to fine particles generated during the cooking process, representing high concentrations of fine dust. Generally, it is a visible emission produced when fats and other components decompose during high-temperature cooking above 230 degrees Celsius, such as frying or stir-frying ingredients in oil.

Cooking fumes have particle diameters of 100㎚ or less, which is about 1/25th the size of ultrafine dust particles. In the form of nanoparticles, when inhaled, they penetrate deep into lung cells, causing inflammation and potentially leading to lung cancer. Cooking fumes contain harmful substances such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. For this reason, they are also called "death particles," and in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under the World Health Organization (WHO) classified them as Group 1 carcinogens.

Education Ministry officials inspecting school meal facilities.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

According to the interim results of the "Lung Cancer Health Screening for School Meal Workers" announced by the Ministry of Education on the 14th, among 24,065 school meal workers screened from 14 city and provincial education offices excluding Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Chungbuk education offices, 31 school meal workers were confirmed to have lung cancer. This screening was conducted following an increase in occupational lung cancer claims and approvals among school meal workers in 2021, prompting the Ministry of Employment and Labor in December of the same year to establish lung cancer health screening criteria requiring low-dose lung CT scans for current meal workers aged 55 or older or those who have been engaged in meal service for more than 10 years.

From the lung CT scan results of school meal workers, 139 workers (0.58%) were classified as "suspected lung cancer" or "highly suspected," and after additional biopsy tests, 31 workers (0.13%) were confirmed to have lung cancer. The average age of confirmed cases was 54.9 years, with an average employment period of 14.3 years. Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Chungbuk were excluded from this announcement as additional biopsy tests have not yet been completed. Particularly, Seoul and Gyeonggi have the largest number of meal workers and many overcrowded schools and classes, drawing attention to the number of lung cancer confirmations expected from these regions in the future. The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to conduct expert analyses, including age-based studies, once the final screening results from all 17 city and provincial education offices are available.

In response, the Ministry of Education plans to support improvements in work environments, such as upgrading ventilation systems in meal preparation rooms and minimizing the frequency of frying to twice a week or less. They are also preparing follow-up measures including guidance on occupational disease claims for confirmed lung cancer cases, prompt processing of sick leave and leave of absence, and financial support for medical examinations for workers with abnormal findings.