Call for urgent action to control food chemical diacetyl

The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) is calling for government regulatory authorities around the world to take urgent action to control the use of the food flavouring chemical diacetyl. Used as an ingredient in artificial butter flavours, diacetyl has been shown to cause serious and even fatal illnesses in workers exposed to it in the manufacturing process, said the IUF. Evidence has linked diacetyl to the crippling lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans, now widely known in the US as “popcorn workers’ lung.”