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An outbreak of a severe lung disease has occurred among workers exposed to artificial butter flavoring at factories producing microwave popcorn.

Click here to contact attorneys and lawyers for microwave popcorn and other snack industry workers with lung injuries.


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Below is a partial list of factories in the U.S. that reportedly produce microwave popcorn and other snack foods using butter flavoring agents. This list is not meant to imply that any workers at these plants have been injured by exposure to artificial butter flavoring.
California
Carmi Flavors and Fragrances, Commerce; Conagra Grocery Products, Irvine; Gaslamp Popcorn Company, San Diego; Mastertaste, Commerce; Mission Flavors and Fragrances, Foothill Ranch; Western Flavors and Fragrances, Livermore;

Connecticut
Lincoln Snacks Company, Stamford; Newman's Own, Westport

Florida
Barnard Nut Company, Miami; Mastertaste, Lakeland & Planet City.

Illinois
Cornfields, Gurnee; Gilster-Mary Lee Corp., Chester; Lee Gilster-Mary Corp., Momence; Tee Lee Popcorn, Shannon

Indiana
Amish Country Popcorn, Berne; Ellis Popcorn Co., West Terre Haute; Family Time Popcorn, Inc., Valparaiso; Gettelfinger Popcorn, Palmyra; Jones Popcorn, New Albany; Kirk's Popcorn Co., Topeka; Vogel Popcorn, Corydon; Weaver Popcorn Co., Markle, Crawfordsville, Huntingburg, Van Buren, Indianapolis & New Richmond; Yoder Popcorn Inc., Topeka

Iowa
American Pop Corn Co., Sioux City; Conagra Foods, Hamburg; Manson Industries, Manson; Noble Distributor, Sac City

Kentucky
Ellis Popcorn Company, Murray

Massachusetts
New England Pretzel & Popcorn, Lawrence

Minnesota
Conagra Foods, Minneapolis

Missouri
Mary Lee Packaging Corp., Perryville; Mastertaste, Fenton & Greenville.

Nebraska
Lincoln Snacks Company, Lincoln
New Jersey
Mastertaste, Clark & Teterboro.

Pennsylvania
Reist Popcorn Company, Mount Joy

South Carolina
International Cup Corp., Bennettsville; Soller, Bennettsville
Tennessee
Mastertaste, Crossville.
Wisconsin
Mastertaste, Waunakee.
Canada
Mastertaste, Granby


 
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Popcorn Worker Lung-- A Growing National Concern (DEV)
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ("NIOSH") found that from 1992 to 2000 eight former workers of the Gilster-Mary Lee microwave popcorn plant in Jasper, Missouri, developed a lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans, or chronic scarring of the airways. The disease is extremely rare in young persons and has been named popcorn workers lung in the popular press.
For the workers at the Missouri popcorn factory, the scarring of their airways was severe enough that several were placed on lung transplant lists. The NIOSH has also reportedly linked exposure to the butter flavoring to lung disease in popcorn factory workers in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio.
Press reports have indicated that flavoring agents are suspected of causing bronchiolitis obliterans in workers at California flavoring plants as well.
Popcorn Companies to Stop Diacetyl Use Due to Link between Microwaving Popcorn and Popcorn Lung Disease
According to a pulmonary specialist from a leading lung research hospital, consumers may be in danger of contracting "popcorn lung disease" that affects workers from diacetyl fumes created while microwaving popcorn. In a July warning letter to federal regulators made public on September 4, 2007, Dr. Cecil Rose of Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center says doctors believe they have the first case of a consumer who developed lung disease as a result of repeated daily exposure to fumes from microwaving popcorn.
Due to concern over the danger of the diacetyl flavoring agent to consumers and workers and recommendations from the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association, by January 2008 the four top manufacturers of microwave popcorn will remove diacetyl as a flavoring agent from its recipes. One national popcorn manufacturer based in Indianapolis, Weaver Popcorn Co. agreed to replace the butter flavoring ingredient in August 2007. ConAgra Foods Inc. of Omaha; General Mills Inc. of Golden Valley, Minn.; and the American Pop Corn Co. of Sioux City, Iowa, which sell Orville Redenbacher, Act II, Pop Secret, and Jolly Time microwave popcorn, have also promised to change their microwave popcorn recipes. However, it may take several months for the reformulated popcorn to replace all the older varieties on store shelves.
Diacetyl and Lung Injuries
A component of artificial butter flavor is the chemical diacetyl. It is used for aroma and taste in butter, some cheeses and snack and bakery products. In tests at NIOSH, laboratory rats that breathed high concentrations of vapors from butter flavoring, including diacetyl, developed significant airway damage.
Health officials are also investigating the safety of workers exposed to other flavoring agents including acetaldehyd (used in citrus flavoring) and bensaldehyde (common cherry and fruit flavors).

Butter Flavoring Lung Injury Lawsuits
In March 2004, a jury in Joplin, Missouri deliberated a little more than three hours before returning a verdict of $20 million against International Flavors and Fragrances, Inc. and its subsidiary, Bush Boake Allen, Inc., for compensatory personal injury damages to a former microwave popcorn worker whose lungs were permanently injured and who is now on a lung transplant list.
In lawsuits by workers at factories using artificial butter flavoring, it has been alleged that exposure to compounds used in the oils and butter flavor mixture has resulted in damage to respiratory systems leading to asthma, bronchiectasis, bronchiolitis obliterans, chronic bronchiolitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, and severe lung impairment.
The workers charged that butter flavor manufacturers failed to warn of the dangers from using butter flavoring in the production of microwave popcorn and other food products.
Contact A Personal Injury Attorney | Lawyer
If you have developed an injury or disease due to working with artificial butter flavoring, please click here to contact Lieff Cabraser.
Alternatively, you may call Lieff Cabraser lawyer Fabrice Vincent in our San Francisco office toll free at 1-800-541-7358, or attorney Elizabeth A. Alexander in our Nashville, Tennessee office at 1-866-313-1973 (the call is toll-free).
There is no charge for your email message or telephone call. We will review your claim for free and without any obligation on your part. We are currently representing persons who have developed lung injuries after working in popcorn factories.
About Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, is one of the largest law firms in the nation that represents only plaintiffs. Lieff Cabraser has a team of personal injury lawyers, assisted by multiple nurses, scientific advisors and medical experts, dedicated to advancing our clients interests, including clients that have suffered permanent lung injuries.
Our lawyers have years of experience successfully representing clients in personal injury cases.
There is no charge or obligation for our review of your case.
In death and serious injury cases, we are pleased to visit you where you live, at no cost, to discuss your legal rights and answer your questions.
We have retained product safety and medical experts nationwide to assist our clients with their claims.
We are currently representing workers with popcorn workers lung disease in individual personal injury lawsuits.
For the past four years, the National Law Journal has annually selected our firm as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in the nation. We have represented thousands of persons in personal injury lawsuits across America, including residents of Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming. To learn about the competitive advantages we offer clients with personal injuries, please click here.
Lieff Cabraser attorneys provide legal advice and practice law for clients in federal courts throughout the United States and in state courts where we are licensed to practice.
In states where we are not licensed to practice, we have affiliations with local attorneys who serve as co-counsel with our firm, including attorneys throughout the midwest. For example, in Indiana, we are associated with the Indiana law firm of Cohen & Malad, LLP in this litigation. In Missouri, we are associated with attorney Kenneth B. McClain of the law firm Humphrey, Farrington & McClain, P.C. In Iowa, we are associated with the law firm of Wandro, Lyons & Baer. Please read our disclaimer.
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"Popcorn firms removing diacetyl linked to lung ailments in factory workers"
December 18, 2007, Associated Press

The nation's four biggest makers of microwave popcorn have removed a flavoring chemical linked to a lung ailment in popcorn plant workers from nearly all their products. The companies say all their microwave popcorn recipes should be changed by January. More...

To read more press articles on the Popcorn Lung litigation, click here.


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In 2007, Lieff Cabraser attorneys, with local co-counsel, obtained a $50 million verdict against Daimler Chrysler in a wrongful death action. Our firm has participated in over thirty-five $100 million-plus settlements and verdicts, including ten cases in excess of $1 billion.