Abstract: The unorganized release of bioaerosols from campus food waste posed a potential threat to the health of campus students and staff. In this study, an Anderson six-stage sampler and a medium-flow total suspended particulate sampler were used to collect air samples from the temporary storage process of food waste in the campus. The culturable and non-cultureable bioaerosols were analyzed by culture techniques and high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that food waste was an important source of bioaerosol release, and the concentration of fungi (224.78±27.69) CFU/m3 in bioaerosol was higher than that of bacteria (116.95±23.01) CFU/m3 and environmental background. That is, the bacterial environmental background value was (32.80±3.61) CFU/m3, and the fungal environmental background value was (54.57±17.24) CFU/m3. In terms of particle size distribution, bacterial aerosols were mainly distributed in stage I (≥7.0 μm), and fungal aerosols were in stage IV (2.1~3.3 μm). The dominant phylum of bacterial aerosols mainly included Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. The former had a higher aerosolization level. The dominant phylum of fungal aerosols mainly included Ascomycota and Basidiomycetes, both of which were easily aerosolization. In terms of health risks, the non-carcinogenic health risk of both breathing and skin-contact were within the maximum acceptable level set by the US EPA. However, the annual exposure risk and disease burden of Pseudomonas and Fusarium were higher than the corresponding limits.

Key words: food waste, bioaerosol, community structure, aerosolization index, health risk