Plant Milks, Rice-Based — RETIRED
This subcategory has been re-routed to Category 3, currently in build. The standards page will be available when Category 3 is finalized.
HMTc Category 5 row 7 was retired under Category 5 Step 0 Amendment 1 (April 28, 2026), authority Step Zero Protocol v1.4 §0G operation 2. Rice-based plant milks (rice milk) are certified under Category 3 (Grains, Cereals, and Rice Products), row 10 (Rice beverages), so that the rice higher-contamination row is handled coherently within one category. This URL is preserved permanently and will resolve to the Category 3 row 10 standards page once Category 3 is locked.
The literature evidence below is retained for historical reference and will be re-routed to the Category 3 row 10 page when that page is built. No HMTc standards values are published from this page.
Historical literature evidence (Category 5 row 7, retired)
The content below was the original Category 5 row 7 literature synthesis. It is preserved verbatim for traceability under the locked-file-immutability principle. Standards inheritance moves to Category 3 row 10.
Who this page is for
Heavy Metal Index pages are written for several audiences at once. Each entry point below names where to start if you are reading this page with a specific question in mind.
- Brand legal and regulatory affairs
- Cherry-pick attack vectors on rice-based plant milks typically center on inorganic arsenic from the rice base; the EU iAs cap on rice-based drinks (30 ppb for non-alcoholic rice-based drinks per EU 2023/915) is the public number. Source provenance and the iAs-vs-tAs speciation rule from the Methodology section are the defensive core. Compare with Plant Milks Non Soy Non Rice for the within-pair sibling. The cited sources at the bottom of this page are the citations list, written to be quoted into a Daubert brief without further editing.
- Retailer quality and compliance
- The Federal / Regulatory Limits vs Field Findings section compares the applicable regulatory cap to cited field evidence on a like-for-like basis, with basis conversion shown when conversion is well-defined and a methodology anchor when speciation differs. The Literature Evidence Summary gives source count and confidence rating per analyte.
- Brand QA and product development
- Use the Lab Result Comparator to position a single lab value inside the cited literature. The comparator positions a single lab value inside the cited literature for rice-based plant milks, against the EU 2023/915 30 ppb iAs cap on rice-based drinks.
- Regulators, journalists, and adversarial readers
- Every numeric claim on this page traces to a source page. The Evidence Governance note explains what this page is and is not (literature evidence, not HMT&C certification thresholds).
- HMT&C staff (internal)
- HMT&C certification thresholds for products in this row are developed under the certification program at heavymetaltested.com, not on this public page. The Index and HMT&C operate on the same evidence base but apply different publication rules; see the methodology for the separation.
Methodology
This page reports what the peer-reviewed and regulatory literature states about heavy-metal concentrations in rice-based plant milks. HMT&C certification thresholds for products in this row are developed under the certification program at heavymetaltested.com, not on this page.
Speciation is non-substitutable. Inorganic arsenic (iAs) and total arsenic (tAs) are separate analytes. Total mercury (tHg) and methylmercury (MeHg) are separate analytes. Total chromium (Cr) and hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI) are separate analytes. Values are never interchanged across speciation boundaries.
Basis is preserved and labeled. Concentration values are reported as the source states them (as consumed, as placed on market, dry weight). Conversion between bases is shown explicitly when performed; silent conversion is never done.
Row-fit follows author scope. A source’s matrix and format classification is determined by what the authors state, not by re-derivation. Vague author scope receives a partial row-fit designation; sources silent on matrix receive an unknown designation.
Non-detect handling preserves source convention. Sources that report non-detects as zero, as LOD/2, or as <LOD are recorded as stated. The convention is noted in the Source Evidence Inventory.
Source pooling is avoided across different LOQ thresholds, collection periods, geographies, and analytical-basis differences without explicit documentation of the pooling rationale.
Decision Snapshot
| Field | Status |
|---|---|
| Row state | Species-specific occurrence and regulatory comparison available for iAs |
| Best current source | damato2026-inorganic-arsenic-rice-based-beverages |
| Applicable regulation | eu2023-arsenic-rice-based-drinks |
| Computation readiness | Data-grounded for EU iAs comparison; Cd and Pb remain evidence gaps |
| Ingredient routing | plant-milk, rice |
| HMTc use | Strong evidence for iAs prioritization; not an HMTc threshold |
Federal / Regulatory Limits vs Field Findings
This is the fast comparison view for standards developers, regulators, retailers, brands, and legal teams. It shows the applicable federal or regulatory limit next to the current field-evidence state. It is not an HMTc pass/fail table; technical distributions remain in the evidence sections below.
| Metal | Federal / regulatory limit | Actual field finding | Decision read | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| arsenic-inorganic (iAs) | eu2023-arsenic-rice-based-drinks: EU European Commission maximum level: 30 ug/kg iAs. Scope: non-alcoholic rice-based drinks. Basis: wet weight. | D’Amato 2026 reports 25 Italian rice-based beverages with iAs from 7 to 24 ug/kg; no sample exceeded 30 ug/kg. | Direct comparison available; matrix, analyte species, and unit basis match. Not an HMTc certification limit. | eu2023-arsenic-rice-based-drinks; damato2026-inorganic-arsenic-rice-based-beverages |
| arsenic-total (tAs) | No federal product-specific limit loaded in this crosswalk. | D’Amato 2026 reports total arsenic from 9 to 58 ug/kg in rice-based beverages; total arsenic is context only and is not interchangeable with inorganic arsenic. | Occurrence evidence only. Do not infer a federal exceedance or HMTc pass/fail result from this row. | damato2026-inorganic-arsenic-rice-based-beverages |
Broad Product Context: Author-Scope Index
Broad-context source index will be auto-generated here when the routing audit identifies sources whose author-stated scope is broader than this product row.
Source Evidence Inventory
Sources contributing measured rice-based plant milk concentrations are listed below. Intake and exposure estimates are kept separate from measured product concentrations.
Occurrence Evidence
damato2026-inorganic-arsenic-rice-based-beverages analyzed 25 Italian-market rice-based beverages collected from April 2022 to March 2023. The study used HPLC-ICP-MS speciation and reported no left-censored iAs values, which makes it unusually useful for comparison-layer work.
The same source reports consumer-only dietary exposure estimates that are important for risk prioritization: toddlers consuming rice drinks averaged 0.27 ug/kg bw/day with MOE 0.2, while other children averaged 0.13 ug/kg bw/day with MOE 0.5. These are exposure-risk context, not product-level compliance values.
Ingredient Handling
The iAs measurements are finished rice-based beverages. They should not be copied into rice as ingredient-only values. The rice ingredient node can link to this source as related finished-product evidence.
Literature Evidence Summary
The table below summarizes what the peer-reviewed and government literature cited on this page reports for heavy-metal concentrations in rice-based product. Values are pulled directly from cited sources without re-aggregation; pooling, percentile selection, and threshold math sit in the staff Standards Workbench rather than this public page.
Methodology rules for speciation, basis preservation, non-detect handling, and source pooling are stated in the Methodology section above and apply to every row below.
| Analyte | Subcategory | Reported concentration range | Detection rate | Applicable regulatory cap | Sources | Confidence | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iAs | rice-based (no contributing evidence loaded) | No concentration data loaded for this analyte | Sample-level detection rate not reported | eu2023-arsenic-rice-based-drinks: 30 ppb (wet weight) | 0 | data gap | Basis not reported |
| Cd | rice-based (no contributing evidence loaded) | No concentration data loaded for this analyte | Sample-level detection rate not reported | No applicable cap loaded | 0 | data gap | Basis not reported |
| Pb | rice-based (no contributing evidence loaded) | No concentration data loaded for this analyte | Sample-level detection rate not reported | No applicable cap loaded | 0 | data gap | Basis not reported |
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 | D’Amato et al. 2026. Inorganic Arsenic in Rice-Based Beverages: Occurrence in Products Available on the Italian Market and Dietary Exposure Assessment, Foods | 2026 | Peer-reviewed | HPLC-ICP-MS speciation of iAs in 25 Italian-market rice-based beverages (mean iAs 15 µg/kg); primary direct iAs occurrence source for the rice-based plant-milk row with EU regulatory comparison |
| 3 | 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) |
| 4 | Zvěřina et al. 2025. Essential and toxic elements in plant-based dairy alternatives: implications for vegan diets, European Food Research and Technology | 2025 | Peer-reviewed | CZ/EU Pb, Cd occurrence in Fifty-four plant-based dairy alternative (PBDA) samples sourced from the Czech market in Brno, Czech Republic. Composition: 35 milk… (n=54) |
| 5 | Redan et al. 2023. Analysis of Eight Types of Plant-based Milk Alternatives from the United States Market for Target Minerals and Trace Elements, Journal of Food Composition and Analysis | 2023 | Peer-reviewed | US tAs, Cd, Pb occurrence in Eighty-five plant-based milk alternative product units from 19 brands purchased from 10 retail markets and an online retailer… (n=85) |
| 6 | Marques et al. 2021. Essential and Non-essential Trace Elements in Milks and Plant-Based Drinks, Biological Trace Element Research | 2021 | Peer-reviewed | ICP-MS survey of Pb, tHg, Ni, and U in retail plant-based drinks from Spain including rice drink; tHg not detected; provides multi-metal occurrence context for the rice-based plant-milk row |
| 7 | Gu et al. 2020. Arsenic Concentrations and Dietary Exposure in Rice-Based Infant Food in Australia, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17(2):415 | 2020 | Peer-reviewed | ICP-MS tAs and iAs measurement in 3 Australian rice milk powder samples (mean tAs 428 ppb; mean iAs 160 ppb); triangulation source confirming elevated iAs in rice-based beverages in a non-EU market |
| 8 | C-C et al. 2016. Methylmercury varies more than one order of magnitude in commercial European rice, Food Chemistry | 2016 | Peer-reviewed | SPE-HPLC-CV-AFS MeHg speciation in 87 commercial European rice products (MeHg range 0.11–6.45 µg/kg; mean 1.91 µg/kg); provides MeHg ingredient cascade for the rice-based plant-milk row via rice-commodity linkage |
| 9 | Meharg et al. 2008. Levels of arsenic in rice - literature review, Food Standards Agency contract C101045 | 2008 | Government report | UK tAs, iAs occurrence in Food Standards Agency-commissioned literature review and secondary tabulation of published, FSA, and University of Aberdeen rice arsenic data,… |
CC candidate evidence map
| Analyte | Distribution sources (sample-level) | Summary sources | Total source count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pb | — | Marques 2021 (n=42 plant-drinks; rice-drink subset count pending) | 1 summary |
| Cd | — | — | 0 |
| tAs | — | Da Mato 2026 (n=25 summary), Gu 2020 (n=3 triangulation) | 2 summary |
| iAs | — | Da Mato 2026 (n=25 summary), Gu 2020 (n=3 triangulation) | 2 summary + EU cap |
| MeHg | — | Brombach 2017 ingredient cascade | 1 cascade |
| tHg | — | Marques 2021 (not-detected) | 1 summary |
| Ni | — | Marques 2021 | 1 summary |
| Al, Cr-VI, Sn | — | — | 0 |
Levers to reduce contamination
The levers below are ordered by estimated impact magnitude for finished rice-based plant milks as a product category. Inorganic arsenic (iAs) is the primary metal of concern, with an applicable EU regulatory cap of 30 µg/kg (EU 2023/915). Magnitude claims are cited; uncited lever rows carry a placeholder noting that quantified evidence has not yet been ingested.
| Lever category | Specific action | Estimated magnitude | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sourcing | Source rice from low-iAs regions: D’Amato 2026 found iAs ranging from 7 to 24 µg/kg across 25 Italian retail rice beverages; origin geography of the rice base is the primary driver | D’Amato 2026: iAs range 7–24 µg/kg in Italian-market samples; no sample exceeded EU 30 µg/kg cap | 1 |
| Sourcing | Rice raw-material specification: require supplier CoA with iAs values by lot; US long-grain and brown rice carry higher iAs burden than basmati varieties | Quantified magnitude data for material-selection reduction in finished rice beverage iAs not yet ingested; cross-reference rice when synthesis is available. | — |
| Agronomic | Water management at paddy level (aerobic vs flooded conditions); affects iAs uptake in rice grain; operational for brands purchasing direct from growers or cooperatives | Quantified magnitude data not yet ingested for finished-beverage impact | — |
| Processing | Rice washing and cooking prior to extraction; higher water-to-rice ratios in beverage production can dilute residual iAs; effect magnitude depends on extraction process design | Quantified magnitude data not yet ingested | — |
| Formulation | Blending rice with lower-iAs plant bases (oat, almond) reduces per-serving iAs burden but changes the product category; pure rice beverages cannot dilute without product reformulation | Quantified magnitude data not yet ingested | — |
| Testing/QC | Lot-level finished-product HPLC-ICP-MS iAs speciation (not total arsenic); the iAs-to-tAs ratio varies by rice origin; total arsenic alone does not support regulatory compliance against the EU 30 ppb iAs cap | Quantified magnitude data not yet ingested for lot-level testing impact on exceedance rate | — |
| Packaging/storage | Non-canned format typical for rice beverages; tin migration is not a primary lever; glass and paperboard cartons appropriate | Not a primary lever for this product class | — |
How standards math uses this page
HMT&C threshold-setting reads this page’s Source Evidence Inventory and Literature Evidence Summary as its literature baseline. Certification threshold decisions are made separately under the certification program and are not published on this public page.
When this page’s source evidence changes — a new source is added to the Source Evidence Inventory, or an existing source’s row-fit is revised — the Standards Workbench snapshot should be regenerated to reflect the updated literature baseline. The workbench snapshot is the threshold-setting surface; this public page is the literature-evidence surface. The two are maintained in parallel by design.
Historical recalls and enforcement
No public recalls or enforcement actions specifically targeting heavy metals in rice-based plant milks are documented in the wiki’s source corpus as of the last review. The EU Commission maximum level for iAs in non-alcoholic rice-based drinks (30 µg/kg, established under Regulation EU 2023/915) represents the operative regulatory framework for this product class in the EU market. This section will be populated when specific enforcement events or market-surveillance actions are ingested.
Frame: if FDA, EU, or national-agency enforcement actions involving heavy metals in this product category are identified in future ingest, they will appear here as regulatory events. This section does not rank brands.
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 |