Abstract:

Objective To understand the levels of heavy metal pollution in algal food in Tianjin City，so as to provide data support for food safety supervision and guide the development of targeted control measures. Methods From June to August 2024，a total of 600 batches of four types of algae food，including bulk algae dry products，packaged algae dry products，seasoning nori seaweed and nori steamed rice，were selected from six districts in urban，suburban and suburban areas of Tianjin City，two from each area. The contents of heavy metals such as lead，aluminum，cadmium，and arsenic in algal food were determined，to comprehensively analyze the pollution level of heavy metals. Results The pollution of aluminum and cadmium in the algal food was the most serious in Tianjin City，with over-standard rates of 26.0% and 21.0%，respectively. In terms of food categories，the aluminum in bulk algae dry products with the highest over-standard rate was as high as 46.8%. Geographically，the over-standard rate of heavy metals in urban，suburban and rural areas were 22.4%（47/210），41.1%（74/180） and 48.1%（101/210），respectively. The over-standard rate of heavy metals in suburban and rural areas were significantly higher than that in urban areas（P<0.05）. From the food sampling link，the overall over-standard rate in the circulation link was 41.6%（208/500），which was higher than 14.0%（14/100） in the catering link，and the difference was statistically significant（P<0.05）. Conclusions The results of this study show that there is a certain risk of heavy metal contamination in algal food sold in Tianjin City. It is recommended to improve the standard system and supervision system of algal food，improve the detection level，and increase the public's awareness of food safety to fully ensure people's algal food safety.

Key words: Food safety, Algal food, Heavy metal detection, Market regulation