The recent increase in the various ways of cooking has led to a
rise in the number of tools for food creation, including edible food
aerosol sprays. These new products have a long shelf-life and are
easy to store. Aerosol and non-aerosol sprays must be distinguished
and refer to the delivery systems of the spray. Technically,
an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid or liquid particles in a gas.
An aerosol is packaged in a container under pressure and a release
valve is used to emit the pressurised suspension into the air forming
a mist propelled by a gas propellant, as long as the gas and/or
particles last (Hinds, 1999). Non-aerosol food sprays are packaged
as liquid, usually in a bottle with an atomiser attachment (such as a
pump-sprayer) (Dolovich, 1999). The pump sprayer uses springs,
valves and tubes to mix the liquid with small amount of air and
to emitthe liquid as small droplets propelled in short bursts until
the liquid inside is finished.
If at the beginning certain food aerosol sprays were designed
and ruled for a professional use only (aiming that standardised
industrial protocols could be sufficient to evaporate residual propellants),
these products are today available in many local markets
and on the internet. Therefore, an important variation in their uses
can occur and lead to important residual concentrations of
propellants.