Survey of arsenic and its speciation in rice products such as breakfast cereals, rice crackers and Japanese rice condiments

Sun, Guo-Xin and Williams, Paul N. and Zhu, Yong-Guan and Deacon, Claire and Carey, Anne-Marie and Raab, Andrea and Feldmann, Joerg and Meharg, Andrew A. (2009) Survey of arsenic and its speciation in rice products such as breakfast cereals, rice crackers and Japanese rice condiments. Environment International, 35 (3). pp. 473-475. ISSN 0160-4120

Abstract

Rice has been demonstrated to be one of the major contributors to arsenic (As) in human diets in addition to drinking water, but little is known about rice products as an additional source of As exposure. Rice products were analyzed for total As and a subset of samples were measured for arsenic speciation using high performance liquid chromatography interfaced with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HPLC–ICP-MS). A wide range of rice products had total and inorganic arsenic levels that typified those found in rice grain including, crisped rice, puffed rice, rice crackers, rice noodles and a range of Japanese rice condiments as well as rice products targeted at the macrobiotic, vegan, lactose intolerant and gluten intolerance food market. Most As in rice products are inorganic As (75.2–90.1%). This study provides a wider appreciation of how inorganic arsenic derived from rice products enters the human diet.