Arsenic contamination in rice, radiation and chemical methods of measurement, and implications for food safety

Rice products, including those given to infants, could be naturally polluted with arsenic. This issue for all age groups should be a top priority for the world food industry and the public. Food regulators assume incorrectly that infants' food and other rice products are safe, and health, agriculture and commerce authorities follow no clear guidelines. A common measure has been to place a ML on the amount of iAs in white rice and food intended for children and pregnant women. Although oAs is less toxic than iAs, it is still toxic; consequently, the ML of arsenic for the different age groups should be also specified. However, the ML of iAs in polished white rice for infants is very low (100 mu g/kg for infants and 200 mu g/kg for adults) and is difficult to measure. Using neutron activation for research is very useful in improving safety standards in the food industry. The second purpose of this review study is to report on the experimental results and methods used for measurements adopted at the Delft Reactor in the Netherlands with a colleague of the quantity of arsenic in 21 samples of different rice products from a variety of brands.