To systematically evaluate the contamination characteristics and health risks of aluminum residues in commercially available fried flour products from partial districts/counties of Beijing in 2025.

Microwave digestion was employed for sample pretreatment, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry was applied for the quantitative analysis of aluminum residues in 61 samples of commercial fried flour products. The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare the differences in aluminum content among the samples, while the chi-square test was adopted for the comparison of over-standard rates. The weekly dietary exposure dose of aluminum was calculated via the point estimation method, and the safety limit of dietary aluminum intake for the population was derived accordingly. The pollution index method was utilized to assess the contamination status of aluminum in fried flour products, and the target hazard quotient was used to evaluate the long-term health risks.

The detection results indicated that the overall over-standard rate of aluminum residues was 8.2% (5/61), and all the non-compliant samples were concentrated in District C, with a mean aluminum content of 178.5 mg/kg and a 97.5th percentile value(P_97.5) of 873.8 mg/kg, which was significantly higher than that in the other 3 districts (P<0.05). No statistically significant differences in aluminum content were observed among different circulation channels(supermarkets/farmers’ markets/restaurants), product types (high-moisture/low-moisture products), and packaging types (pre-packaged/bulk products) (P>0.05). In terms of dietary exposure risk, the mean weekly exposure dose of aluminum in District C was 0.266 mg/kg·bw, with a P_97.5 value of 1.304 mg/kg·bw, and the corresponding dietary safety limits were 0.133 (mean value) and 0.652 (P_97.5 value). In contrast, the values in the other three districts were all below 0.01. The Nemerow comprehensive pollution index of aluminum in District C was 7.053 (>1), whereas the indices in the other districts were all below 0.7. Regarding non-carcinogenic risks, the target hazard quotient of the high-exposure population in District C was 0.654 (<1), and the values in the other districts were less than or equal to 0.010, all of which were below the threshold value.

Significant regional differences exist in the aluminum content of fried flour products in Beijing. District C exhibits a severe level of aluminum contamination as indicated by the comprehensive pollution index. However, since the dietary exposure dose does not exceed the provisional tolerable weekly intake, the health risks are within the acceptable range, and the current non-carcinogenic risks are controllable. It is recommended to strengthen the supervision of bulk food products and the circulation links of farmers’ markets and catering services, promote the application of aluminum-free leavening agent technology, and conduct long-term risk assessments of multi-pathway aluminum exposure.