Yan et al. (2025) analyzed 6,632 rice samples collected from 18 prefecture-level cities in Henan Province, China, between 2020 and 2022 for five heavy metals: cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), total mercury (Hg), and inorganic arsenic (iAs). The study found that inorganic arsenic had the highest detection rate (99.59%) and median concentration (0.110 mg/kg), with a hazard quotient exceeding 1 for all age groups — making it the dominant health risk in Henan rice, particularly for children and toddlers. All samples met China GB 2762-2017 food safety limits for Pb, Hg, As, Cr, and iAs, except for Cd, for which some exceedances were observed.
Key numbers
All concentrations in mg/kg dry weight (rice grain), ICP-MS analysis.
Detection rates and median concentrations (n = 6,632):
- iAs: detection rate 99.59%; median 0.110 mg/kg (110 µg/kg)
- Cd: detection rate 27.69%; median 0.002 mg/kg (2 µg/kg); urban mean 0.015 mg/kg; southern region mean 0.020 mg/kg (highest)
- Cr: detection rate 22.57%; median 0.015 mg/kg; eastern region highest detection rate 32.7%
- Pb: detection rate 2.25%; median 0.025 mg/kg
- tHg: detection rate 1.95%; median 0.002 mg/kg
GB 2762-2017 limits for reference: Pb 0.2 mg/kg, Hg 0.02 mg/kg, iAs 0.2 mg/kg, Cd 0.2 mg/kg, Cr 1.0 mg/kg.
Cd exceeded limits in some samples; all other metals met limits across the 6,632 samples.
Health risk (Hazard Quotient > 1): iAs HQ exceeded 1 in all age groups; toddlers had highest exposure per unit body weight.
Urban vs. rural: Cd detection rate 30.42% (urban) vs. 23.13% (rural), p < 0.001.
Comparison with other Chinese provinces: Cd and Cr levels in Henan are lower than most other Chinese provinces; As in Henan is lower than Hunan but higher than Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, and Fujian.
Methods (brief)
6,632 rice samples collected 2020–2022 from 18 Henan prefecture-level cities via market sampling (supermarkets, wholesale markets, shopping centers, farmers’ markets). Analytical method: ICP-MS for all five metals. Non-detect handling: LOD/2 substitution. Health risk assessment per USEPA guidelines using estimated daily intake (EDI) and hazard quotient (HQ) for three age groups (adults, children, toddlers). Statistical analysis: IBM SPSS 26.0; chi-square test for detection rate comparisons by region and urban/rural strata.
Note: The paper reports iAs (inorganic arsenic) directly, not total arsenic — appropriate speciation distinction preserved.
Implications
Certification: iAs at 0.110 mg/kg (110 µg/kg) median exceeds FDA Closer to Zero action level for infant rice cereal (100 ppb iAs). Sourcing Henan rice for infant products carries documentation risk.
Courses: Henan iAs profile illustrates why geography matters within China — low Cd relative to Hunan but elevated As relative to eastern coastal provinces.
App: Rice from Henan Province (CN): iAs status populated; Cd low but detectable. Regional flag warranted for iAs.
Wiki pages updated on ingest
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 |