A man in Colorado is claiming in a lawsuit against grocery chain King Soopers that there is indeed, a condition called popcorn lung, and he’s got it after eating microwave popcorn from the store. He says King Soopers should’ve warned him that an ingredient in the popcorn’s butter flavoring called diacetyl could be dangerous. However the chain’s lawyers say his health issues aren’t due to an overabundance of the snack, but because he worked with cleaning chemicals for years.

Everyone agrees that the man has respiratory problems, notes CBS Denver, but King Soopers says the man lied about how much popcorn he ate and conveniently forgot to mention to the court that he was exposed to dangerous chemicals for a long period of time.

“Who would ever reasonably think that popping popcorn in your own home, no matter how it’s packaged or processed, would all of a sudden turn into an agent for toxic lung disease,” the man said back in 2010.

Popcorn factory workers have won or settled previous lawsuits over health issues they claim came from inhaling the flavoring, but it’ll be up to the jury in this case to decide whether or not the man could’ve possibly inhaled enough just popping the stuff at home to get sick.

Scientists recently linked diacetyl to Alzheimer’s and other problems after researchers studied its ill effects on workers in popcorn factories, but noted that the average snacking consumer would likely not be at risk.

King Soopers Strikes Back In Popcorn Lung Lawsuit [CBS Denver]

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