Al compounds

Shorthand for aluminium compounds, which meet foods in several guises: additives such as sodium aluminium phosphate in baking powders, clarifying agents in drinking-water treatment, and the metal of cans, foils and cookware. Aluminium is abundant in the environment and most dietary exposure is low, but regulators have set provisional tolerable weekly intakes and keep watch on high-consuming groups — heavy users of certain processed foods, for example. The compounds illustrate a familiar regulatory pattern: a ubiquitous element, useful across the food system, managed through limits rather than bans.