Non Rice Grains
Completeness scorecard
Deterministic gap audit — no score is composite, no cell is LLM-judged. Each chip is re-derivable by re-running tools/evidence/build-ingredient-scorecard.mjs. review: residuals and missing data are worked autonomously via data/evidence/ingredient-scorecard-review-flags.csv and wiki/completeness-gaps.md.
| Dimension | Status | What’s there (auditable counts) | What’s missing |
|---|---|---|---|
| D1 Analyte coverage (tier: staple) | OK | 7/10 HMTc analytes, total n=46 | labeled data-gaps: Sn |
| D2 Regional coverage | OK | 22 jurisdictions, top PL 23% | — |
| D3 Anthropogenic evidence | GAP | 1 soil + 2 drinking-water; no supply-chain link | link a supply-chain/ hub page |
| D4 Background mechanism | GAP | section present, 0 drivers, 3 upstream source(s) | drivers[] empty |
| D5 Pooling depth | THIN | Pb CONFIDENT, Cd CONFIDENT, iAs POOLABLE, tHg POOLABLE, Ni THIN, Al THIN, Cr POOLABLE, tAs POOLABLE | Ni: needs 1 more study(ies); Al: THIN |
| D6 Speciation | OK | iAs, tHg, tAs declared | — |
| D7 Basis declaration | GAP | 0/10 populated cells declare a basis token | 10 populated cell(s) lack a basis token: Pb, Cd, iAs, tHg, Ni, Al, Cr, Sn, tAs, U |
| D8 Provenance integrity | GAP | 17 claims checked, 17 supported; 13 citations, 0 orphan, 1 foreign | 1 foreign citation(s) not naming non-rice-grains: signes-pastor2018-infants-dietary-arsenic-solid-food |
| D9 Mitigation | OK | 2 cited lever(s), 6 mitigation/ link(s) | — |
| D10 Regulatory coverage | OK | 2 rule link(s), 0 metal(s) covered | unmapped analytes: Pb, Cd, iAs, tHg, Ni, Al, Cr, tAs |
| D11 Standards-readiness | NOT-READY | priority: Pb, Cd, iAs, tHg, Ni, Al, Cr, tAs; pairing 0 paired, 8 single, 0 unpaired | iAs: POOLABLE; tHg: POOLABLE; Ni: THIN, needs 1 more study(ies); Al: THIN; Cr: POOLABLE; tAs: POOLABLE; basis: 10 populated cell(s) lack a basis token: Pb, Cd, iAs, tHg, Ni, Al, Cr, Sn, tAs, U |
| Principle balance | flag | consumer-protection 1.00, contamination-reduction 1.00, brand-value 0.00, legal-defensibility 0.50, scale 0.25 | spread 1.00 — starved: brand-value |
This is a structural ingredient node created so product pages can link to a real wiki target. Occurrence values remain pending until a source is promoted for this ingredient.
Heavy metal contamination profile
Per-analyte snapshot derived from the machine-readable contamination_profile in the frontmatter above. data gap indicates the literature has been reviewed for this commodity-analyte combination and no usable occurrence data was found (a finding, not a placeholder). The Key sources column shows the top 2-3 contributing sources by year and sample size, with numbered wikilink aliases.
| Analyte | Coverage | Typical (ppb) | p95 (ppb) | Confidence | Key sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pb | n=11 | 10–80 | 200 | high | 1, 2, 3 |
| Cd | n=11 | 20–150 | 400 | high | 1, 2, 3 |
| iAs | n=4 | 5–30 | — | medium | 1, 2, 3 |
| tAs | n=6 | 10–80 | — | medium | 1, 2, 3 |
| tHg | n=5 | 1–10 | — | medium | 1, 2, 3 |
| Ni | n=2 | 100–800 | — | low | 1, 2 |
| Al | n=3 | 500–5000 | — | low | 1 |
| Cr | n=4 | 30–200 | — | medium | 1, 2, 3 |
| Sn | data gap | — | — | — | — |
| U | data gap | — | — | — | — |
Routing
This node is linked from baby-cereals-dry-non-rice, mixed-meals-non-rice, teething-and-snacks-non-rice.
Contamination Profile State
The machine-readable contamination profile is pending. Ingredient-level values belong here once parsed; finished-product values belong on the relevant product-category page.
Sources
Auto-generated from source-page frontmatter. The “Used on this page for” column is populated by the orchestrator’s POPULATE-SOURCE-LEGEND action; pending entries appear as *[awaiting synthesis]*.
| # | Citation | Year | Type | Used on this page for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Begday et al. 2026. Integral assessment of the environmental safety of plant-based milk alternatives based on heavy metal analysis, Izvestiya KGTU (KSTU News) | 2026 | Peer-reviewed | RU Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu occurrence in Eight plant-based milk samples assessed on the Russian market: four commercial ready-to-drink beverages (one each of almond, rice,… (n=8) |
| 2 | Good et al. 2026. Comparative exposure and risk assessment of heavy metals, nutrients, and organochlorine pesticides in cow and plant-based milks, Scientific Reports | 2026 | Peer-reviewed | US Cr, tAs, Cd, Pb occurrence in Twenty-two commercially available milk products purchased from major grocery retailers in Houston, Texas, USA. Eight milk-type categories: cow… (n=22) |
| 3 | Asadi et al. 2025. Health risk assessment of potentially toxic elements in bread from Iranian markets using Monte Carlo simulation, Scientific Reports | 2025 | Peer-reviewed | IR Pb, Cd, tHg, Al, Cr, Ni, Cu, Fe, Zn, Co occurrence in 248 bread samples collected from 11 Iranian provinces during winter 2020; four traditional bread types: lavash (n=69), taftoon… (n=248) |
| 4 | Asadi et al. 2025. Human health risk assessment of arsenic and potentially toxic elements exposure in bread and wheat flour in Northeast Iran, PLoS ONE 20(7): e0327652 | 2025 | Peer-reviewed | IR tAs, Al, Cr, Cd, Ni, Pb, tHg, Fe, Zn, Cu, Co, V occurrence in Flour, dough, and bread from 90 bakeries across five city regions (North, South, East, West, Central) in Mashhad,… (n=270) |
| 5 | Chiutula et al. 2025. Assessment of Heavy Metal Accumulation in Wastewater–Receiving Soil–Exotic and Indigenous Vegetable Systems and Its Potential Health Risks: A Case Study from Blantyre, Malawi, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | 2025 | Peer-reviewed | Measured Cd, Cr, and Pb in amaranth (and other leafy species) irrigated with WWTP effluent in Blantyre, Malawi; routes here because amaranth is classified under non-rice grains in this wiki |
| 6 | Houlihan et al. 2025. What’s in your family’s rice? Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead in Popular Rice Brands - Plus 9 Safer Grains to Try, Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF) report | 2025 | Government report | US tAs, iAs, Cd, Pb, tHg occurrence in 211 retail grain containers (145 rice samples across 105 brands and 66 alternative-grain samples) purchased in 20 US… (n=211) |
| 7 | Codex 2024. Report of the 17th Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (REP24/CF17), Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, Codex Alimentarius Commission | 2024 | Government report | Regulatory context for Pb, Cd, iAs, and Hg limits applicable to non-rice grain matrices under current and emerging Codex standards |
| 8 | Ibrahim et al. 2024. Correlates of Food Contamination by Heavy Metals in Northwest Nigeria, Environmental Health Insights | 2024 | Peer-reviewed | Pb, Cd, and tHg by AAS in 361 staple maize, millet, sorghum, rice, cowpea, and soybean samples from 360 households in 4 LGAs of Jigawa State, Nigeria; 97.8% of households had food Hg above 0.02 mg/kg reference |
| 9 | Katebe et al. 2024. Application of soil amendments to reduce the transfer of trace metal elements from contaminated soils of Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of the Congo) to vegetables, Environmental Science and Pollution Research | 2024 | Peer-reviewed | Pot trial of Pb, Cd, and tAs transfer from Cu-Co-mining-contaminated Lubumbashi soils to amaranth (classified here as non-rice grain) alongside three other vegetables; tests organocalcareous amendments as a mitigation lever |
| 10 | Toledo et al. 2024. Essential and Toxic Elements in Infant Cereal in Brazil: Exposure Risk Assessment, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 21(4):381 | 2024 | Peer-reviewed | BR Ag, Al, tAs, iAs, B, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, Sr, Zn occurrence in Eighteen Brazilian infant-cereal samples acquired in 2014-2015: 9 rice cereals, 5 multi-grain cereals containing rice, and 4 non-rice-based… (n=18) |
| 11 | Gacal et al. 2023. Cadmium and lead content in gluten and gluten-free bread available on Polish market - potential health risk to consumers, Annales Academiae Medicae Silesiensis | 2023 | Peer-reviewed | Cd and Pb by ET-AAS in 50 Polish-market breads (wheat-rye, wheat, rye, gluten-free); wheat-rye had highest mean Cd (0.072 mg/kg) and gluten-free lowest (0.021), with non-trivial cancer risk for children under 11 from wheat-rye |
| 12 | Jakkielska et al. 2023. Risk profiling of exposures to potentially toxic metals PTM(s) through noodles consumption. A case study of human health risk assessment, Acta Universitatis Cibiniensis Series E: Food Technology | 2023 | Peer-reviewed | PL Pb, Cd, tAs, iAs, tHg occurrence in Twenty commercially available 500 g noodle/pasta products collected from markets in Poland, covering wheat, durum wheat, corn-flour gluten-free,… (n=20) |
| 13 | Oduro et al. 2023. Health risks of potentially toxic metals in cereal-based breakfast meals in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana, Discover Food 3:25 | 2023 | Peer-reviewed | GH tAs, Cd, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb occurrence in 54 locally produced cereal-based breakfast meals obtained from Kumasi Metropolis markets in December 2021: 31 breakfast cereals, 20… (n=54) |
| 14 | Rubio et al. 2023. Dietary Exposure to Toxic Metals (Cd, Pb and Hg) from Cereals Marketed in Madeira and the Azores, Biological Trace Element Research | 2023 | Peer-reviewed | Cd, Pb, and tHg in oats, rye, wheat, and corn (and rice) marketed in Madeira and the Azores; oats highest Cd at 0.307 mg/kg and rye highest Pb at 0.347 mg/kg, both exceeding EU MLs |
| 15 | USDA 2023. China Releases the Standard for Maximum Levels of Contaminants in Foods (USDA FAS GAIN Report CH2023-0040, unofficial translation of GB 2762-2022), USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN), Report Number CH2023-0040 | 2023 | Regulation | CN Pb, Cd, tHg, MeHg, tAs, iAs, Sn, Ni, Cr occurrence in null |
| 16 | Balbo et al. 2022. Dietary exposure and risk characterisation of multiple chemical contaminants in rye-wheat bread marketed in Poland, EFSA Journal | 2022 | Government report | EFSA EU-FORA report — Al, tAs, Cd, Cr, Pb, and Ni by ICP-MS (EN 15763:2009) in 51 rye-wheat refined-flour breads from Warsaw supermarkets; all below EU MLs but Al, Pb, and Ni exposures raised concern for toddlers and children |
| 17 | Getu et al. 2022. Determination of the Level of Heavy Metals in the Selected Cereals from Debre Markos Local Market, Amhara Region, Ethiopia, International Journal of Analytical Chemistry | 2022 | Peer-reviewed | Pb, Cd, and Cr by MP-AES in four cereals (barley, tef, wheat, maize) from Debre Markos market, Ethiopia; Pb (e.g., barley 0.49 mg/kg) and Cd above FAO/WHO limits in all four cereals, linked to DAP/urea fertilizer use |
| 18 | Mania et al. 2020. Assessment of exposure to nickel intake with selected cereal grains and cereal-based products, Roczniki Panstwowego Zakladu Higieny (Annals of the National Institute of Hygiene) | 2020 | Peer-reviewed | Ni by GFAAS in 56 Polish-market cereal-grain and grain-based products (millet, rye, wheat, barley, pasta, flours, groats, flakes, bran); whole grains mean 1.16 mg/kg vs processed 0.61, 95th percentile 1.93 mg/kg, individual values up to 4.80 in millet |
| 19 | TatahMentan et al. 2020. Toxic and Essential Elements in Rice and Other Grains from the United States and Other Countries, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | 2020 | Peer-reviewed | US/CA/TH tAs, Pb, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn occurrence in Rice and other grains purchased from local stores in Louisiana, USA: 28 white rice samples, 11 brown rice… |
| 20 | Liang et al. 2019. Analysis of Heavy Metals in Foodstuffs and an Assessment of the Health Risks to the General Public via Consumption in Beijing, China, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | 2019 | Peer-reviewed | Pb, Cd, Cr, tAs, and tHg in cereal group (wheat, non-rice grains, corn, rice) within 25 Beijing foodstuffs; Hg exceeded limits in millet, and cereals plus vegetables accounted for 91.5% of total dietary Cd intake |
| 21 | Signes-Pastor et al. 2018. Infants’ dietary arsenic exposure during transition to solid food, Scientific Reports | 2018 | Peer-reviewed | Longitudinal biomarker study including non-rice mixed cereals and oat/barley-based infant foods as iAs/tAs exposure sources during weaning |
| 22 | Slepecka et al. 2017. Evaluation of cadmium, lead, zinc and copper levels in selected ecological cereal food products and their non-ecological counterparts, Current Issues in Pharmacy and Medical Sciences 30(3):147-150 | 2017 | Peer-reviewed | Cd and Pb by FAAS in 10 ecological vs 10 conventional Polish cereal products (wheat, rye, spelt, buckwheat, oat, barley flours/brans/flakes); ecological flours had Cd ~100× higher, contradicting the assumption that organic certification lowers cereal Cd or Pb |
| 23 | Mania et al. 2015. Toxic Elements in Commercial Infant Food, Estimated Dietary Intake, and Risk Assessment in Poland, Polish Journal of Environmental Studies | 2015 | Peer-reviewed | PL/EU Pb, Cd, tAs, tHg occurrence in Approximately 1,000 commercial infant-food samples collected from retail markets in all Polish provinces during the 2009-2013 sanitary-epidemiological monitoring… (n=1000) |
| 24 | EFSA 2014. Dietary exposure to inorganic arsenic in the European population, EFSA Journal 2014;12(3):3597 | 2014 | Government report | EU iAs, tAs concentrations (n=103773) |
| 25 | EFSA 2009. Scientific Opinion on Arsenic in Food, EFSA Journal 2009;7(10):1351 | 2009 | Government report | EFSA iAs/tAs risk assessment including non-rice grain occurrence data; establishes that non-rice cereals are a secondary but non-negligible contributor to European iAs exposure |
| 26 | Uneyama et al. 2007. Arsenic in various foods: Cumulative data, Food Additives & Contaminants | 2007 | Peer-reviewed | JP/US/GB tAs, iAs occurrence in Cumulative review of arsenic measurements in food from PubMed, Japanese local-authority research databases, and national food-safety surveillance reports;… |
| 27 | Codex 1995. General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed (CXS 193-1995), Codex Alimentarius (Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme) | 1995 | Government report | Codex maximum levels for iAs, Cd, Pb, Sn, and MeHg applicable to cereal and non-rice grain matrices |
Why this commodity accumulates heavy metals
Non-rice grains is the aggregate ingredient label for cereal grains other than rice, used as the grain base in non-rice baby cereal formulations and gluten-containing/gluten-free baby cereals. The category includes oat, maize, wheat, barley, rye, millet, sorghum, and quinoa (pseudocereal). Each grain carries its own heavy-metal profile inherited from its cultivation pathway: oat as moderate-Cd accumulator (per the Madeira/Azores cereal survey by Rubio 2023 documenting oats at 0.307 mg/kg Cd, exceeding EU MLs); corn as moderate-Pb with low iAs (substantially lower than rice); wheat as moderate-Cd from soil-uptake plus trace Pb from milling-equipment contact (the Polish bread survey by Gacal 2023 documents Cd in wheat-rye bread at 0.072 mg/kg with non-trivial cancer-risk implication for children under 11); barley and rye at moderate baselines (Rubio 2023 documents rye at 0.347 mg/kg Pb exceeding EU MLs); millet at elevated Ni per Mania 2020 up to 4.8 mg/kg; quinoa as documented tAs accumulator from Andean source-region geochemistry.
The non-rice-grains category is the key alternative to rice in infant cereal formulations because rice-cereal iAs is the dominant concern in the rice-cereal commodity. Non-rice baby cereals (oat, multigrain, ancient-grain blends) substantially reduce per-product iAs but carry their own per-grain analyte concerns. The Nigerian household-staple survey by Ibrahim 2024 (361 samples across maize, millet, sorghum) documents Pb, Cd, and Hg above WHO reference in many emerging-market non-rice grain samples; the Ethiopian Debre Markos market survey by Getu 2022 documents Pb and Cd above FAO/WHO limits in all four cereals tested, linked to DAP/urea fertilizer use.
Ranges by source, region, and variety
Variance within non-rice grains tracks the grain-mix composition, source-grain origin region, and processing tier. The Rubio 2023 Atlantic-archipelago cereal survey, Balbo 2022 EFSA Polish bread survey, and Slepecka 2017 Polish ecological vs conventional cereal comparison (which found ecological flours carrying 100× higher Cd, contradicting the organic-certification-as-Cd-reducer assumption) collectively establish the European-market baseline. Emerging-market non-rice grains (Nigerian, Ethiopian, broader sub-Saharan African production per Ibrahim 2024 and Getu 2022) carry substantially elevated levels. Beijing dietary-cereal exposure per Liang 2019 documents non-rice grain contribution to Cd intake.
Processing effects
Non-rice grain processing for cereal applications involves cleaning, hulling, milling, and optional flake/puff/extrusion processing. Milling fractionation (bran vs germ vs endosperm) affects per-fraction metal load; bran-and-germ fractions concentrate Cd and Pb per Mania 2020’s Polish whole-vs-processed cereal grain Ni comparison (whole 1.16 mg/kg vs processed 0.61 mg/kg). Multigrain baby cereal formulations combine multiple non-rice grains, dilution-balancing per-grain analyte concentrations. The Signes-Pastor 2018 U.S. infant biomarker work documents the As-exposure profile during weaning with oat- and barley-based non-rice infant foods.
Ingredient-derivative risk
Non-rice grains route into baby-cereals-dry-non-rice (Cat 1 row for non-rice infant cereals) and into mixed-meals products. Derivatives include single-grain baby cereals (oat-only, barley-only), multigrain baby cereals (oat-quinoa-barley blends, ancient-grain blends), gluten-containing cereals (wheat, barley, rye), and gluten-free cereals (oat, corn, quinoa, millet, sorghum). Bran-rich derivatives concentrate Cd and Pb; refined flour fractions carry lower per-mass loads.
Mitigation options
Sourcing levers (supply-chain-screening) include grain-specific origin specifications (per oat, maize, quinoa sourcing guidance); multi-source diversification to reduce concentration in any single grain; supplier-soil verification for emerging-market grain supply.
Agronomic levers (agronomic) operate at the per-grain cultivation stage. The Lubumbashi pot-trial work by Katebe 2024 documents organocalcareous soil amendments as a Cd-and-Pb transfer-reduction lever in contaminated soils. Fertilizer-input audit (DAP/urea use is a documented Pb/Cd source per Getu 2022).
Processing levers (processing) include milling-fraction specifications (white-flour vs whole-grain choices for the Cd-concentrating-bran trade-off); equipment material specification.
Formulation levers (formulation) are dominant: multigrain formulations dilute per-grain analyte concentrations; non-rice substitution avoids the rice-iAs pathway entirely.
Testing and QC levers (testing-and-qc) include lot-level Pb, Cd, As, Ni testing on incoming grain supply and finished cereal product. ICP-MS is the standard analytical platform; HPLC-ICP-MS speciation for iAs/tAs distinction.
Packaging and storage levers (packaging-and-storage) are minor; standard cereal-product packaging specifications apply.
Regulatory limits that apply
- eu-2023-915 — EU Reg. 2023/915 sets binding maximum levels for Pb, Cd, and iAs in infant-and-young-child cereal-based food: iAs 50 ppb (rice and rice-product), Pb 20 ppb, Cd 40 ppb (dry weight). Non-rice cereals fall under broader cereal-grain provisions with different per-analyte limits.
- FDA Closer to Zero baby-food Pb action level: 20 ppb for dry infant cereal applies to non-rice infant cereals.
- Codex Alimentarius CXS 193-1995 (Codex 1995) sets cereal-grain category limits.
- EFSA Scientific Opinion on iAs in food (EFSA 2009) establishes the non-rice-cereal iAs exposure-pathway context.
- Codex CCCF17 (Codex 2024) initiates new work on Cd in foods including cereal grains.
- California Prop 65 (california-prop65) Pb and Cd MADLs apply to non-rice cereal products sold in California.
Page history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.
| Commit | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| b0f3d38 | 2026-06-12 | batch | corpus rescreen b04 old terminal skips |