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Symptoms in spice workers.
1Central Chest Clinic, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
|April 1, 1992
Summary
Spice dust from cloves and pepper can cause temporary irritation to workers, leading to symptoms like sneezing and runny nose. Other spices like nutmeg and cardamom did not cause adverse effects in this study.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health
- Food Science
- Toxicology
Background:
- Spices are globally utilized for food flavoring, primarily cultivated in tropical regions.
- Workers in spice processing facilities may face occupational exposure to airborne spice particles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the health effects of occupational exposure to various spice dusts on workers.
- To identify which spices cause irritant symptoms and assess the severity and duration of these reactions.
Main Methods:
- A study involving 28 workers in a spice export store processing cloves, pepper, nutmeg, mace, and cardamom.
- Workers were rotated through short exposure periods to different spice dusts.
- Symptom reporting was compared with a control group and correlated with spice pungency.
Main Results:
- 76% of workers reported temporary irritant symptoms (eye/nostril smarting, cough, sneezing, runny nose) when handling clove dust.
- Similar, but less frequent, symptoms (44%) were reported with pepper dust.
- Nutmeg, mace, and cardamom did not induce any adverse effects. Symptoms were absent in a control group.
Conclusions:
- The observed symptoms are temporary irritations of the mucous membranes caused by the active compounds in certain spices.
- A spectrum of irritancy exists among spices, potentially correlating with their pungency, with cloves and pepper posing the highest risk in this cohort.