An Investigation of Concentration and Health Impacts of Aldehydes Associated with Cooking in 29 Residential Buildings

Indoor air quality can be influenced by various indoor activities. The indoor air pollutants generated by cooking activities can cause severe risks to occupants’ health in residential buildings. The present study conducted field experiments to measure indoor pollutants associated with cooking in 29 residential buildings. Due to an open plan in Korean residential buildings, the emission of indoor pollutants was measured in the kitchen and living room. Focusing on aldehydes, the indoor emission levels for various cooking methods such as grilling, frying, and boiling were analyzed. As a result, the emission of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and propionaldehyde was highly increased for all cooking methods. The increase rate of the emission was higher in the kitchen than that in the living room for grilling and frying. In the case of boiling, the highest concentration of aldehydes was observed. Moreover, the indoor level of aldehydes was higher in the living room than that in the kitchen. Moreover, the health risk such as cancer for occupants was assessed based on the measured data for different cooking methods. The assessment results showed that all the emissions of aldehydes for different cooking methods required instant actions to avoid cancer risk for occupants.