This OSHA report indicates some potential health hazards:
Potential symptoms: Irritation of eyes, skin, and respiratory system; lacrimation (discharge of tears).
Health Effects: Nuisance particulate (HE19)
Affected organs: Eyes, skin, respiratory system
Notes:
1. Studies in rabbits indicate that vegetable oils (sesame seed, poppy seed, olive), in contrast to animal fat oils or mineral oil, cause little if any lung pathology.
2. Increased respiratory symptoms (e.g., dyspnea) of kitchen workers exposed to fat aerosols during frying at high temperatures have been reported.
3. A large number of thermal and oxidative decomposition products, some with known toxic properties, can be produced during the stir-frying or deep fat frying of foods in various seed oils (corn, canola, soybean, hydrogenated cotton-seed).
4. A case of lipoid pneumonia was reported in a worker who observed the testing of fire extinguishers against fires involving lards and shortenings for a firm that made and tested “restaurant fire control systems.”
5. Eight former workers at a microwave popcorn production facility where there was exposure to volatile organic compounds from heated soybean oil mixed with salt and butter flavorings were diagnosed with a severe lung disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, and some other workers there also showed obstructive pulmonary function abnormalities (see Diacetyl).
6. A similar lung disease but also involving lung alveoli called bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia was described in beagle dogs that had accidental intra-airway exposure to oleic acid, a major component of some vegetable oils such as soybean oil.