Heavy metals in Non Rice Grains

Non Rice Grains overview

Non Rice Grains in the HMI library has 1,415 reported results for lead, cadmium, total arsenic, inorganic arsenic, dimethylarsinic acid, total mercury, nickel, chromium, aluminium, tin, antimony, uranium, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, V, Se, B, Ba, Ca, CrIII, CrVI, K, Mg, Mo, Na, P, Rb, S and Sr from 42 sources.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2Unknown authors · 2024Detection of Heavy Metals in Some EdiblePeer-reviewed articleRead source →3Bielecka J, Markiewicz-Żukowska R, Puścion-Jakubik A, Grabia M, Nowakowski P, Soroczyńska J, Socha K · 2022Gluten-Free Cereals and Pseudocereals as a Potential Source of Exposure to Toxic Elements among Polish ResidentsNutrients 2022, 14, 2342Read source →4Pan X-D, Wu P-G, Jiang X-G · 2016Levels and potential health risk of heavy metals in marketed vegetables in Zhejiang, ChinaScientific ReportsRead source →5Adam AA, Sackey LNA, Ofori LA · 2022Risk assessment of heavy metals concentration in cereals and legumes sold in the Tamale Aboabo market, GhanaHeliyon 8 (2022) e10162Read source →6Assaad N, Fadel D, Argyraki A, Kypritidou Z, Bakir A, Awad E · 2020Heavy Metals Accumulation in the Edible Vegetables of Lebanese Tabbouli SaladJournal of Agricultural Science 12(7):155-162Read source →} WHO GEMS/Food submissions reported lead in non Rice Grains, as sold from 3,702 results in 4 reporting regions, with subgroup medians from 2.5 to 110 µg/kg.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →} For cadmium, GEMS/Food gave subgroup medians from 1 to 210 µg/kg from 4,135 results.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →}

Across 4 other studies of ordinary farms and markets, reported lead means and medians on an as-sold or fresh-weight basis ranged from 9.58 µg/kg (Bielecka et al. 2022) to 84 µg/kg (X-D et al. 2016).^{3Bielecka J, Markiewicz-Żukowska R, Puścion-Jakubik A, Grabia M, Nowakowski P, Soroczyńska J, Socha K · 2022Gluten-Free Cereals and Pseudocereals as a Potential Source of Exposure to Toxic Elements among Polish ResidentsNutrients 2022, 14, 2342Read source →4Pan X-D, Wu P-G, Jiang X-G · 2016Levels and potential health risk of heavy metals in marketed vegetables in Zhejiang, ChinaScientific ReportsRead source →} For cadmium, 6 studies on an as-sold or fresh-weight basis reported means and medians from 10 µg/kg (Caridi et al. 2021) to 65.7 µg/kg (Bielecka et al. 2022).^{3Bielecka J, Markiewicz-Żukowska R, Puścion-Jakubik A, Grabia M, Nowakowski P, Soroczyńska J, Socha K · 2022Gluten-Free Cereals and Pseudocereals as a Potential Source of Exposure to Toxic Elements among Polish ResidentsNutrients 2022, 14, 2342Read source →8Caridi F, Acri G, Belvedere A, Crupi V, D’Agostino M, Marguccio S, Messina M, Paladini G, Venuti V, Majolino D · 2021Evaluation of the Radiological and Chemical Risk for Public Health from Flour Sample InvestigationApplied Sciences 2021, 11, 3646Read source →} Higher results came from contaminated or exposed settings rather than ordinary supply. Non Rice Grains, as sold from Location B1 (industrial-affected area) had total mercury higher at 56.1 µg/kg, against 0.28 µg/kg for Control (grocery store >55 km from any power plant) in the same study.^{9Li R, Wu H, Ding J, Fu W, Gan L, Li Y · 2017Mercury pollution in vegetables, grains and soils from areas surrounding coal-fired power plantsScientific ReportsRead source →}

For a buyer the practical points are the form bought, the basis a result is reported on, where the non Rice Grains came from and the laboratory’s reporting limit. Testing finds contamination but does not remove it.

What counts as non Rice Grains

This page covers non Rice Grains in 5 forms kept separate in every comparison: non Rice Grains, as sold (1,138 results), non Rice Grains, flour or meal (238 results), non Rice Grains, cooked (29 results), non Rice Grains, peel or outer layer (5 results) and non Rice Grains, peeled or flesh (5 results).^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2Unknown authors · 2024Detection of Heavy Metals in Some EdiblePeer-reviewed articleRead source →3Bielecka J, Markiewicz-Żukowska R, Puścion-Jakubik A, Grabia M, Nowakowski P, Soroczyńska J, Socha K · 2022Gluten-Free Cereals and Pseudocereals as a Potential Source of Exposure to Toxic Elements among Polish ResidentsNutrients 2022, 14, 2342Read source →4Pan X-D, Wu P-G, Jiang X-G · 2016Levels and potential health risk of heavy metals in marketed vegetables in Zhejiang, ChinaScientific ReportsRead source →5Adam AA, Sackey LNA, Ofori LA · 2022Risk assessment of heavy metals concentration in cereals and legumes sold in the Tamale Aboabo market, GhanaHeliyon 8 (2022) e10162Read source →6Assaad N, Fadel D, Argyraki A, Kypritidou Z, Bakir A, Awad E · 2020Heavy Metals Accumulation in the Edible Vegetables of Lebanese Tabbouli SaladJournal of Agricultural Science 12(7):155-162Read source →}

Results stay on the basis each source reports: as sold or fresh weight, dry weight, or unstated. Dry-weight, as-sold and unstated results are never pooled, and no moisture conversion is applied.

Heavy metal contamination profile of non Rice Grains

The table holds every extracted non Rice Grains result: one row for each statistic a source reports for a form, group and metal, 1,415 rows in all, grouped by metal and form; percentiles, ranges and maxima for the same samples as a mean or median are shown on that row.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2Unknown authors · 2024Detection of Heavy Metals in Some EdiblePeer-reviewed articleRead source →3Bielecka J, Markiewicz-Żukowska R, Puścion-Jakubik A, Grabia M, Nowakowski P, Soroczyńska J, Socha K · 2022Gluten-Free Cereals and Pseudocereals as a Potential Source of Exposure to Toxic Elements among Polish ResidentsNutrients 2022, 14, 2342Read source →4Pan X-D, Wu P-G, Jiang X-G · 2016Levels and potential health risk of heavy metals in marketed vegetables in Zhejiang, ChinaScientific ReportsRead source →5Adam AA, Sackey LNA, Ofori LA · 2022Risk assessment of heavy metals concentration in cereals and legumes sold in the Tamale Aboabo market, GhanaHeliyon 8 (2022) e10162Read source →6Assaad N, Fadel D, Argyraki A, Kypritidou Z, Bakir A, Awad E · 2020Heavy Metals Accumulation in the Edible Vegetables of Lebanese Tabbouli SaladJournal of Agricultural Science 12(7):155-162Read source →} Monitoring medians are HMI calculations from individual submissions; non-detects remain intervals between zero and the reporting limit and are never read as zero.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →}

319 rows can be rated against an HMI reference for the same form and basis, 302 rows have a direct same-study comparison, and the rest stay unrated with the reason recorded. 57 values from 8 sources failed a check against their own source and are shown but not compared.^{2Unknown authors · 2024Detection of Heavy Metals in Some EdiblePeer-reviewed articleRead source →3Bielecka J, Markiewicz-Żukowska R, Puścion-Jakubik A, Grabia M, Nowakowski P, Soroczyńska J, Socha K · 2022Gluten-Free Cereals and Pseudocereals as a Potential Source of Exposure to Toxic Elements among Polish ResidentsNutrients 2022, 14, 2342Read source →5Adam AA, Sackey LNA, Ofori LA · 2022Risk assessment of heavy metals concentration in cereals and legumes sold in the Tamale Aboabo market, GhanaHeliyon 8 (2022) e10162Read source →7Ewa Mozdzer, Renata Gamrat · 2023The Effect of Sludge-Ash Granulates on the Content and Uptake of Heavy Metals by Winter Rape Seeds and TriticaleApplied SciencesRead source →9Li R, Wu H, Ding J, Fu W, Gan L, Li Y · 2017Mercury pollution in vegetables, grains and soils from areas surrounding coal-fired power plantsScientific ReportsRead source →10Liang G, Gong W, Li B, Zuo J, Pan L, Liu X · 2019Analysis of Heavy Metals in Foodstuffs and an Assessment of the Health Risks to the General Public via Consumption in Beijing, ChinaInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public HealthRead source →11Sulaiman FR, Ibrahim NH, Syed Ismail SN · 2020Heavy metal (As, Cd, and Pb) concentration in selected leafy vegetables from Jengka, Malaysia, and potential health risksSN Applied Sciences (2020) 2:1430Read source →12Rubio C, Gutiérrez AJ, Hardisson A, Martín V, Revert C, Fernandes PJP, Lopes DJH, Paz-Montelongo S · 2023Dietary Exposure to Toxic Metals (Cd, Pb and Hg) from Cereals Marketed in Madeira and the AzoresBiological Trace Element ResearchRead source →}