The FDA finds very low levels of arsenic in rice and rice products, according to USA Today.
1,300 samples of rice and rice products were tested for arsenic by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and found that levels vary but overall are far too low to cause any immediate or short-term adverse health effects.
The results of the test released on Friday represent the first time FDA has released broad numbers on arsenic's presence in rice products. The findings show the highest average levels in brown rice, the lowest in rice wine. The brown rice had 160 parts per billion inorganic arsenic per serving, infant rice cereal 120 and rice wine 11.
Arsenic comes in two chemical forms: organic and inorganic. Inorganic arsenic is more common. It occurs in rocks and is known human carcinogen. Organic arsenic is considered harmless. The Environmental Protection Agency has set arsenic limits for drinking water at ten parts per billion, by comparison.
Officials have earlier noted that Americans drink much more water than they eat rice. Except for apple juice, federal agencies have not yet detailed safe limits in other foods. "All of the data suggest levels that are not high enough to give us cause for concern for immediate or near-term effects," said FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg.
The arsenic accumulates in the hull, the outer portion of the rice, "so the more highly you refine and polish rice, the more arsenic is reduced," said Donald Zink, an FDA senior science adviser. Last year the magazine Consumer Reports called for the FDA to set limits for acceptable arsenic content in rice after it found levels potentially above what some consider safe.
The magazine editors are very pleased that the FDA has released the new numbers, said Urvashi Rangan, director of consumer safety for Consumers Union, the policy division of Consumer Reports, based in Yonkers, N.Y. "It's an important step that needed to be taken to deal with a food product that's particularly prone to taking up arsenic," she said.
