That Buttery aroma might be toxic, too Common chemical in popcorn at center of concern

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports:

Pop Weaver, one of the largest producers of microwave popcorn, is removing a controversial chemical flavoring agent from its products.

The chemical -- diacetyl -- adds buttery taste. Government worker safety investigators have linked exposure to the synthetic butter to the sometimes fatal destruction of the lungs of hundreds of workers in food production and flavoring factories.

And while Pop Weaver has dropped diacetyl from its product, it remains in widespread use in thousands of other consumer products, including the microwave popcorn brands Orville Redenbacher and Act II.

Despite the worker safety findings -- and despite scores of jury decisions and settlements awarding millions of dollars to workers who sued after having their lungs destroyed by exposure to diacetyl -- neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Consumer Product Safety Commission have investigated. The FDA years ago declared the chemical safe for consumption. Labels on almost all products containing it call it a flavoring and only rarely do the labels mention diacetyl.

The only government investigators to examine whether consumers are at risk -- whether diacetyl is released when consumers pop corn in their home microwaves, and if so, how much -- is the Environmental Protection Agency. But to the frustration of many public health workers, the findings of the EPA's study -- which began in 2003 and was completed last year -- have been released only to the popcorn industry.

In part, it was the EPA's study that led Pop Weaver to reformulate its flavoring without diacetyl, said Mike Weaver, chief executive officer of the 80-yearold family-owned company.

"We have to have good flavors, but at the same time we have to have ingredients that consumers feel good about and we were hearing too many concerns raised about diacetyl," he said. "With these growing concerns and with EPA's actions, we felt it was the prudent to stop using diacetyl and we have."

In addition to Pop Weaver and six other private brands, the Indiana-based company also sells "Trail's End" popcorn for the Boy Scouts of America. Five million boxes were sold last year, the Scouts said.

"Maybe the big food conglomerates don't take diacetyl seriously, but we take it very, very seriously," Weaver said. "We sell popcorn only. Without it, we're out of business."

ConAgra Foods, which says it is the largest supplier of the 3 billion bags of microwave popcorn sold worldwide each year, declined to comment on Pop Weaver's action.

A new health issue.