Popcorn makers to eliminate diacetyl flavoring linked to lung disease - by Sabrina Eaton, The Plain Dealer, OH
Popcorn makers in Marion and across the country have decided to eliminate use of a flavoring that gives microwave popcorn its distinctive buttery aroma because of its linkage to a fatal lung disease.
Hundreds of workers at a ConAgra Foods popcorn factory in Marion and at a Cincinnati plant filed lawsuits after coming down with the disease. The Marion plant makes microwave popcorn under the Orville Redenbacher and Act II brands, while the Cincinnati factory makes the buttery flavoring called diacetyl.
The lawsuits contend that at least one worker at the Cincinnati plant run by Givaudan Flavors Corp., a division of a Swiss-based maker of food flavorings and cosmetic fragrances, died from repeatedly breathing diacetyl.