Rice finding 1452

Source evidence and comparison details for the Rice profile.

Lockwood et al. 2023

Unpolished rice (husk removed during preparation; brown/red rice) · Lead (Pb) · 1 rice samples (seven varieties; four varieties as unpolished/polished pairs).

Selected finding and reference

15 µg/kg (individual sample ± 3 SD)Individual sample.

1 rice samples (seven varieties; four varieties as unpolished/polished pairs). Basis: unspecified.

authors state all samples were above the limits of detection

HMI baseline position

Limited data · HMI uncooked-grain Pb reference · 10 sampling families. Individual sample as reported: 15 µg/kg. HMI median 25; Q1 10–15.5 (bounded); Q3 54.5–64.5 (bounded) µg/kg. 10 families. Reporting bounds prevent a rating.

Reporting bounds or insufficient reference spread prevent a stable Low / Moderate / High classification.

This finding’s sampling family contributes to the fixed reference.

Sensitivity to weighting

Equal subgroup weight within each family: Limited data. The position remains unresolved under this alternative. This check does not address all sampling, rounding or analytical uncertainty.

Sensitivity to source selection

These checks show dependence on each sampling family; they are not confidence intervals.

Reference, contributing evidence and methods

Collection period

Collection date unreported

No year-by-year sample register is reconstructed from this summary.

Geographic scope

Ran Kahawanu

Rice variety or type within one study.

Sampling, analysis and reporting limits

10-20 grains ground, HNO3/HCl overnight digest, solution ICP-MS (Agilent 7700s) with Rh internal standard, 8-point calibration 0.6-600 µg/kg; LA-ICP-MS imaging (unquantified).

authors state all samples were above the limits of detection

Shared samples and study overlap

Subgroup rows, statistics of the same subgroup and the study total share samples; they are not independent results.

Each table row describes a food/analyte result. Repeated rows do not add independent samples or datasets. No cross-study trend is calculated in this comparison mode.

Reported values, conversion and source locator
Source statisticOriginal resultDisplayed unit conversion
sample_value15 ± 3none

Original SD: 3 μg kg−1.

Table 2, row 'Ran Kahawanu', column Pb; p.2895.

No moisture, cooking-yield or species conversion is applied to the original finding above. Any basis conversion used for its HMI comparison is stated separately with the numerical target.

Open the primary publication · HMI source record

Reference and scope

HMI uncooked-grain Pb reference · 10 sampling families. Uncooked grain as analysed (native or unstated moisture), µg/kg. Distribution of subgroup median concentration values.

Reference (µg/kg)Q1MedianQ3
Primary HMI reference10–15.5 (bounded)2554.5–64.5 (bounded)
Alternative weighting10–15.5 (bounded)2554.5–64.5 (bounded)

82 reference units; 10 sampling families. Counts describe evidence units, not independent studies or certainty.

Contributing familyReference unitsWeight
Myat Soe et al. (2023)510%
Alrashdi et al. (2024)610%
WHO GEMS/Food4110%
Mari et al. 2016310%
Authors 2016310%
Bazie et al. 2022510%
Gama et al. 2025110%
Ibrahim et al. 2024110%
Lockwood et al. 20231110%
Yan et al. (2025)610%

Methods

HMI calculates a pooled distribution of subgroup medians across the admitted sampling families. 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 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-native-Pb:4a9266cf68b5

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.