Microwave Popcorn + Diacetyl
Do you like your lungs? If you do, you’d lay off the microwave popcorn for a few years until the FDA starts regulating Diacetyl.
Diacetyl is what adds the buttery taste to many microwave popcorns. Heated Diacetyl becomes a vapor and, when inhaled over a long period of time, seems to lead the small airways in the lungs to become swollen and scarred. Sufferers can breathe in deeply, but they have difficulty exhaling. The severe form of the disease is called bronchiolitis obliterans or “popcorn workers’ lung,” which can be fatal.
I haven’t really pimped my employer too much on this blog, but offering an alternative to bad popcorn is something we do quite well. Did you know non-organic popcorn is on the FDA’s list of top ten foods most contaminated with toxic pesticides and chemicals?
September 13, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Weaver Popcorn Company has ALREADY removed diacetyl from the flavoring in its two brands of microwave popcorn, Pop Weaver, sold at mass market retailers, discount stores and select grocery stores nationwide; and Trail’s End, sold through Boy Scout councils. Consumers who are concerned about this issue have an option available on store shelves now.