Overview
Vincevica-Gaile and colleagues measured total arsenic in 36 commercial infant/toddler food samples purchased in Libya, grouped by label-declared cereal mixture, wheat, or rice composition. The highest average concentrations were reported in rice-containing infant/toddler foods, but the paper measured total arsenic only and did not speciate inorganic arsenic.
Key numbers
The study used NIST SRM 1568a rice flour as reference material. For arsenic, the reference value was 0.29 +/- 0.03 mg/kg, the detected mean was 0.22 +/- 0.03 mg/kg, recovery was 76%, and the instrumental LOD was 0.02 micrograms/L.
Table 2 reports total arsenic in infant/toddler foods containing mixed cereals:
| Origin | N | Range | Mean/median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Libya | 3 | 0.05 to 0.17 mg/kg | 0.11 mg/kg |
| Turkey | 2 | 0.19 to 0.27 mg/kg | 0.23 mg/kg |
| France | 1 | 0.15 mg/kg | 0.15 mg/kg |
| Egypt | 1 | 0.16 mg/kg | 0.16 mg/kg |
| Overall ITF-mix | 7 | 0.05 to 0.27 mg/kg | 0.16 mg/kg |
Table 3 reports total arsenic in wheat-containing infant/toddler foods:
| Origin | N | Range | Mean/median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | 8 | 0.04 to 0.25 mg/kg | 0.14 / 0.16 mg/kg |
| Oman | 4 | 0.09 to 0.22 mg/kg | 0.16 / 0.17 mg/kg |
| Egypt | 3 | 0.29 to 0.33 mg/kg | 0.32 / 0.33 mg/kg |
| Germany | 2 | 0.08 to 0.14 mg/kg | 0.11 mg/kg |
| Tunisia | 1 | 0.20 mg/kg | 0.20 mg/kg |
| Overall ITF-wheat | 18 | 0.04 to 0.33 mg/kg | 0.19 mg/kg |
Table 4 reports total arsenic in rice-containing infant/toddler foods:
| Origin | N | Range | Mean/median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | 7 | 0.15 to 0.35 mg/kg | 0.22 / 0.21 mg/kg |
| France | 3 | 0.15 to 0.39 mg/kg | 0.24 / 0.20 mg/kg |
| Libya | 1 | 0.16 mg/kg | 0.16 mg/kg |
| Overall ITF-rice | 11 | 0.15 to 0.39 mg/kg | 0.21 / 0.19 mg/kg |
The authors report that country-of-origin differences were significant for ITF-wheat (P < 0.004) but not for ITF-mix (P = 0.34) or ITF-rice (P = 0.72).
Methods (brief)
Infant/toddler food samples were purchased from supermarkets in Sabha, Tripoli, and Benghazi, Libya. The authors grouped samples as cereal mixture (n = 7), rice-containing (n = 11), and wheat-containing (n = 18) based on product labels and country of production. Samples were dried at 90 degrees C for 48 h, digested from 0.2 g dry mass with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide in a Mars5 microwave digester, brought to 50 mL, and analyzed for total arsenic by ICP-MS.
Related evidence
- Infant Rice Cereal
- Infant Cereal
- Infant Food Powder
- Infant Food General
- Rice Cereal
- Cereal Based Infant Formula
- Rice
- Wheat
- Arsenic, Total
- Arsenic
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