Posted on May 03 2016
Recently, it was brought to our attention that there has been some press around the potential hazards of air emissions from the coffee roasting process. Specifically, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that the compounds diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione, which are known to cause a variety of lung conditions, are naturally produced and released when coffee beans are roasted.
We wanted to be sure that our employees (our parent company, Speedwell Coffee is a commercial roaster) and our customers are safe, so we decided to engage the services of an environmental engineering firm to test the air quality in our commercial roasting/production area and in a simulated home roasting environment (our in-house kitchen) with the CBR-101.
You can read the full report here or just check out the chart below, but you will be glad to know that the survey results indicated that potential emissions of diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione during all operations, including that of the CBR-101 home roaster were minimal and well below existing and proposed occupational exposure limits.
Let us know if you have any questions at all! Happy, healthy roasting!