Overview
This A-tier peer-reviewed paper is a high-priority Category 5 source because it directly measures inorganic arsenic in finished rice-based beverages. It analyzed 25 rice-based drinks from the Italian market using HPLC-ICP-MS speciation and ICP-MS total arsenic. It gives both occurrence findings and a regulatory comparison against the EU maximum level for non-alcoholic rice-based drinks.
Key numbers
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Samples | 25 rice-based beverages |
| Sampling period | April 2022 to March 2023 |
| Market | Italy |
| iAs mean | 15 ug/kg |
| iAs median | 15 ug/kg |
| iAs range | 7-24 ug/kg |
| tAs mean | 23 ug/kg |
| tAs median | 22 ug/kg |
| tAs range | 9-58 ug/kg |
| iAs quantification | 100% of samples quantifiable; no left-censoring substitution needed |
| Regulatory comparison | No sample exceeded the EU 30 ug/kg maximum level for non-alcoholic rice-based drinks |
| Consumer-only exposure | Toddlers: 0.27 ug/kg bw/day, MOE 0.2; other children: 0.13 ug/kg bw/day, MOE 0.5 |
Why this is critical
This is exactly the kind of source the comparison layer needs: matrix-specific, species-specific, recent, quantitative, and directly comparable to a regulation. It should drive the rice-based plant-milk decision surface while remaining clearly separated from HMTc threshold-setting.
Routing
| Finding scope | Heavy Metal Index destination | Handling |
|---|---|---|
| Finished rice-based beverages | Plant Milks, Rice-Based — RETIRED | Product-row occurrence and regulatory comparison |
| Rice as an ingredient | Rice | Related finished-product evidence only; do not write beverage values into the rice ingredient profile |
| EU maximum level | EU inorganic arsenic maximum level for non-alcoholic rice-based drinks | External regulatory context, not HMTc value |
Limitations
The source is Italian-market evidence. It is very strong for iAs in rice-based drinks, but it does not resolve Cd, Pb, Al, Ni, or Sn for the same row. Consumption estimates have small numbers of rice-drink consumers in some age classes and should be treated as risk-context evidence, not a product compliance table.
Wiki pages updated on ingest
- Plant Milks, Rice-Based — RETIRED
- Regulatory Crosswalk vs Field Findings
- Plant milk base
- Rice
- EU inorganic arsenic maximum level for non-alcoholic rice-based drinks
Update history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and 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 | Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| a8052bb | 2026-08-09 | major | 7 sections added; narrative text revised |