Rice finding 1
Source evidence and comparison details for the Rice profile.
FDA Total Diet Study, FY2018–FY2020
Rice, white, enriched, cooked · Total arsenic (tAs) · 27 composites in the full source subset.
Selected finding and reference
HMI baseline position
Moderate · HMI cooked-rice tAs reference · 4 sampling families. Median of selected cooked-food composites: 43 µg/kg. HMI median 41.5; Q1 36; Q3 63 µg/kg. 4 families. Not a safety grade.
Low is below Q1; Moderate includes Q1 through Q3; High is above Q3. Reporting bounds must give the same category throughout.
This finding’s sampling family contributes to the fixed reference.
Sensitivity to weighting
Equal subgroup weight within each family: Moderate. The position is unchanged under this alternative. This check does not address all sampling, rounding or analytical uncertainty.
Sensitivity to source selection
- Without FDA Total Diet Study, FY2018–FY2020: Moderate.
- Without WHO GEMS/Food: Moderate.
- Without Authors 2026: Moderate.
- Without Baxter et al. 2015: Moderate.
These checks show dependence on each sampling family; they are not confidence intervals.
Year-by-year source results
All collection regions; all available source years.
| Fiscal year | Samples | Detected | Sample median (µg/kg) | Detected range (µg/kg) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2018 | 12 | 12/12 | 41.5 | 26–62 |
| FY2019 | 9 | 9/9 | 45 | 20–75 |
| FY2020 | 6 | 6/6 | 49.5 | 29–69 |
Collection regions
All source years in all sampled regions.
| Collection region | Composites | Detected | Sample median (µg/kg) | Detected range (µg/kg) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-Atlantic | 4 | 4/4 | 50.5 | 41–55 |
| North Central | 4 | 4/4 | 43 | 20–69 |
| Northeast | 5 | 5/5 | 43 | 40–62 |
| Southeast | 5 | 5/5 | 32 | 29–53 |
| Southwest | 4 | 4/4 | 54.5 | 42–75 |
| West | 5 | 5/5 | 35 | 26–45 |
FDA TDS prepared-food composite in the stated cooked form; no moisture/basis conversion.
How the comparison is calculated
Earlier matched collections uses the latest selected year and the earliest earlier year with common region × season groups. We calculate a median within each group, then the median across the same groups in each year, with equal group weight. Unmatched composites remain in the source tables. Other collection regions matches fiscal year and season and balances the peer regions. These are descriptive sample comparisons.
A reference middle 50% is the earlier groups' Q1–Q3, with linear interpolation. It describes that reference set; it is not a normal range, a safety threshold or an outlier test. A single earlier measurement has no meaningful reference distribution.
Sampling, analytical methods and reporting limits
Regional results are prepared-food composites from collection markets, not growing origins or individual brands. Fiscal-year coverage is uneven. Matched comparisons retain common region/season strata, with equal stratum weight. Different sampled composites are not a longitudinal panel or a demonstrated population trend.
FDA regional foods combine purchases from three cities into one prepared-food composite. Row-specific administrative reporting limits are preserved. A non-detect is bounded by its reporting limit; no concentration is imputed. The multi-analyte rice records contain winter-only FY2020 collections; this does not mean every analyte was tested in that year. Matching also addresses unequal regional coverage, including the absence of West in the FY2018 winter subset.
FDA collection and preparation design · Original data key
Unmatched source-year summaries describe every reported sample in that year. The selected comparison uses only its declared matching groups. Different fiscal years can include collections from the same calendar year.
Collection markets do not identify growing or ingredient origin. Other collection regions compares samples matched by year and season.
Source-value tables retain public category-level sample identifiers, fiscal year, reported result and original locator. A zero lower interval endpoint is never displayed as an observed concentration.
Source reuse limits
Comparisons concern the selected historical dataset and are not current supplier rankings, compliance findings or independent measurements. They are descriptive sample comparisons and do not establish a population trend.
Source values and extraction locators (27)
| Fiscal / calendar year | Region / season | Reported result (µg/kg) | Source locator |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2018 / CY2017 | Mid-Atlantic / Winter | 55 | CSV source row 8331; fda-tds-7a411f697abca80e8a81 |
| FY2018 / CY2017 | North Central / Winter | 31 | CSV source row 8352; fda-tds-ef7fe5b495d6cdeb9d97 |
| FY2018 / CY2017 | Southeast / Winter | 32 | CSV source row 8373; fda-tds-afbf4a41c3c90b05e10a |
| FY2018 / CY2018 | Southwest / Winter | 42 | CSV source row 8394; fda-tds-6298ec7a2be58aed2b16 |
| FY2018 / CY2018 | Southeast / Winter | 32 | CSV source row 8415; fda-tds-257c80a8658b741cd8c4 |
| FY2018 / CY2018 | Northeast / Winter | 43 | CSV source row 8436; fda-tds-cf1f5d2c4cbde7784a27 |
| FY2018 / CY2018 | West / Summer | 35 | CSV source row 8457; fda-tds-1f0d96e2ad17ea4a9dbd |
| FY2018 / CY2018 | Northeast / Summer | 43 | CSV source row 8478; fda-tds-e4616574d16aa1a2c034 |
| FY2018 / CY2018 | Southwest / Summer | 62 | CSV source row 8499; fda-tds-1bb7b5a23c4b8e16c898 |
| FY2018 / CY2018 | Mid-Atlantic / Summer | 41 | CSV source row 8520; fda-tds-5ce8764643defba3f4a6 |
| FY2018 / CY2018 | West / Summer | 26 | CSV source row 8541; fda-tds-27e83d3f04dd7bf3de61 |
| FY2018 / CY2018 | North Central / Summer | 55 | CSV source row 8562; fda-tds-8828477f1fbded796e02 |
| FY2019 / CY2018 | West / Winter | 45 | CSV source row 8583; fda-tds-6aa9f9c5fa6c47d6faf8 |
| FY2019 / CY2018 | Southeast / Winter | 52 | CSV source row 8604; fda-tds-f916a4e2866a859517ae |
| FY2019 / CY2018 | Northeast / Winter | 42 | CSV source row 8625; fda-tds-989239ef7fa2621a4046 |
| FY2019 / CY2019 | Southeast / Summer | 53 | CSV source row 8646; fda-tds-9cfd20b016f9b68c7a8a |
| FY2019 / CY2019 | North Central / Summer | 20 | CSV source row 8667; fda-tds-cd16460ca0ba98c26a29 |
| FY2019 / CY2019 | West / Summer | 42 | CSV source row 8688; fda-tds-a17370ca757547c67e0d |
| FY2019 / CY2019 | Northeast / Summer | 40 | CSV source row 8709; fda-tds-62acc40eea25af3e25e7 |
| FY2019 / CY2019 | Mid-Atlantic / Summer | 49 | CSV source row 8730; fda-tds-1fc792a64edfb481fd8c |
| FY2019 / CY2019 | Southwest / Summer | 75 | CSV source row 8751; fda-tds-ab5e4b731bf63f5cfaea |
| FY2020 / CY2019 | Northeast / Winter | 62 | CSV source row 8775; fda-tds-e5ca7ba4b620af97b298 |
| FY2020 / CY2019 | Southwest / Winter | 47 | CSV source row 8796; fda-tds-1c619f51316fb8053a0a |
| FY2020 / CY2019 | Mid-Atlantic / Winter | 52 | CSV source row 8817; fda-tds-2e44c005262338e6b1c0 |
| FY2020 / CY2020 | West / Winter | 35 | CSV source row 8838; fda-tds-f51b459f695d051fdd43 |
| FY2020 / CY2020 | North Central / Winter | 69 | CSV source row 8859; fda-tds-21d676a50f28df4bd1c7 |
| FY2020 / CY2020 | Southeast / Winter | 29 | CSV source row 8880; fda-tds-025c5ec81c571c9f753a |
Original source and locator
Open the FDA primary source · HMI source record
summary food 50; tAs; source summary spreadsheet row 464.
Reference and scope
HMI cooked-rice tAs reference · 4 sampling families. Cooked rice as prepared, µg/kg as eaten. Distribution of sample or subgroup median concentration values.
| Reference (µg/kg) | Q1 | Median | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary HMI reference | 36 | 41.5 | 63 |
| Alternative weighting | 36 | 41.5 | 63 |
82 reference units; 4 sampling families. Counts describe evidence units, not independent studies or certainty.
| Contributing family | Reference units | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| FDA Total Diet Study, FY2018–FY2020 | 54 | 25% |
| WHO GEMS/Food | 25 | 25% |
| Authors 2026 | 2 | 25% |
| Baxter et al. 2015 | 1 | 25% |
Methods
HMI pools subgroup medians from every compatible rice sampling family in the evidence ledger for this analyte, material and basis: published subgroup medians, medians HMI calculates from printed per-sample values, FDA Total Diet Study cooked composites and WHO GEMS/Food region-by-year medians (random sampling only). Each family has equal total weight; subgroups have equal weight within a family. Non-detects stay as zero-to-limit intervals, so quartiles carry lower and upper bounds. Means, ranges and maxima never enter as observations. Dry-weight, native-moisture and cooked results are kept in separate references; no moisture conversion is assumed.
Inverse weighted empirical CDF; midpoint at exact cumulative-weight boundaries. At least four reference units and a definitely positive Q1–Q3 spread are required. This is a display eligibility rule, not statistical validation.
Limitations
An evidence-library reference, not a probability sample of the world rice market. Sampling families differ in frame (retail, farm, contaminated sites, monitoring) and period; GEMS/Food regions are reporting regions, not growing origins. Many submissions are non-detects with differing limits, which widens the bounds. A position is descriptive concentration, not a safety or compliance judgment.
Admitted source families
Reference version and interpretation
Frozen evidence selection: 2026-10-22. Method: hmi-pooled-reference-v2.
hmi-pooled-reference-v2:rice-cooked-tAs:51ea4b31f834
The reference is computed by HMI from admitted evidence, not copied from a study baseline. It describes the evidence currently in this scope; it is not a worldwide or current-lot benchmark. Source, year and region filters do not change it. Different HMI scopes are not one common ranking.