Rice finding 1723

Source evidence and comparison details for the Rice profile.

FDA Total Diet Study, FY2018–FY2020

Rice, white, enriched, cooked · Nickel (Ni) · 27 composites in the full source subset.

Selected finding and reference

41–170 µg/kgDetected range12 of 27 composites detectedSample median: ≤40 µg/kg (censored bounds).Reporting limit: 40 µg/kg.Basis: Cooked, prepared-food composite.

HMI baseline position

Low · HMI cooked-rice Ni reference · 2 sampling families. Median of selected cooked-food composites: ≤40 µg/kg. HMI median 110; Q1 62.5; Q3 110 µg/kg. 2 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: Low. The position is unchanged 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

Year-by-year source results

All collection regions; all available source years.

Fiscal yearSamplesDetectedSample median (µg/kg)Detected range (µg/kg)
FY2018120/12≤40No detections
FY201998/95341–170
FY202064/65349–80

Collection regions

All source years in all sampled regions.

Collection regionCompositesDetectedSample median (µg/kg)Detected range (µg/kg)
Mid-Atlantic42/424–44 (bounded)48–49
North Central41/4≤40170
Northeast53/56262–80
Southeast53/55353–71
Southwest41/4≤4041
West52/5≤4044–57

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 yearRegion / seasonReported result (µg/kg)Source locator
FY2018 / CY2017Mid-Atlantic / Winter<40CSV source row 8335; fda-tds-7a411f697abca80e8a81
FY2018 / CY2017North Central / Winter<40CSV source row 8356; fda-tds-ef7fe5b495d6cdeb9d97
FY2018 / CY2017Southeast / Winter<40CSV source row 8377; fda-tds-afbf4a41c3c90b05e10a
FY2018 / CY2018Southwest / Winter<40CSV source row 8398; fda-tds-6298ec7a2be58aed2b16
FY2018 / CY2018Southeast / Winter<40CSV source row 8419; fda-tds-257c80a8658b741cd8c4
FY2018 / CY2018Northeast / Winter<40CSV source row 8440; fda-tds-cf1f5d2c4cbde7784a27
FY2018 / CY2018West / Summer<40CSV source row 8461; fda-tds-1f0d96e2ad17ea4a9dbd
FY2018 / CY2018Northeast / Summer<40CSV source row 8482; fda-tds-e4616574d16aa1a2c034
FY2018 / CY2018Southwest / Summer<40CSV source row 8503; fda-tds-1bb7b5a23c4b8e16c898
FY2018 / CY2018Mid-Atlantic / Summer<40CSV source row 8524; fda-tds-5ce8764643defba3f4a6
FY2018 / CY2018West / Summer<40CSV source row 8545; fda-tds-27e83d3f04dd7bf3de61
FY2018 / CY2018North Central / Summer<40CSV source row 8566; fda-tds-8828477f1fbded796e02
FY2019 / CY2018West / Winter<40CSV source row 8587; fda-tds-6aa9f9c5fa6c47d6faf8
FY2019 / CY2018Southeast / Winter53CSV source row 8608; fda-tds-f916a4e2866a859517ae
FY2019 / CY2018Northeast / Winter74CSV source row 8629; fda-tds-989239ef7fa2621a4046
FY2019 / CY2019Southeast / Summer57CSV source row 8650; fda-tds-9cfd20b016f9b68c7a8a
FY2019 / CY2019North Central / Summer170CSV source row 8671; fda-tds-cd16460ca0ba98c26a29
FY2019 / CY2019West / Summer44CSV source row 8692; fda-tds-a17370ca757547c67e0d
FY2019 / CY2019Northeast / Summer62CSV source row 8713; fda-tds-62acc40eea25af3e25e7
FY2019 / CY2019Mid-Atlantic / Summer48CSV source row 8734; fda-tds-1fc792a64edfb481fd8c
FY2019 / CY2019Southwest / Summer41CSV source row 8755; fda-tds-ab5e4b731bf63f5cfaea
FY2020 / CY2019Northeast / Winter80CSV source row 8779; fda-tds-e5ca7ba4b620af97b298
FY2020 / CY2019Southwest / Winter<40CSV source row 8800; fda-tds-1c619f51316fb8053a0a
FY2020 / CY2019Mid-Atlantic / Winter49CSV source row 8821; fda-tds-2e44c005262338e6b1c0
FY2020 / CY2020West / Winter57CSV source row 8842; fda-tds-f51b459f695d051fdd43
FY2020 / CY2020North Central / Winter<40CSV source row 8863; fda-tds-21d676a50f28df4bd1c7
FY2020 / CY2020Southeast / Winter71CSV source row 8884; fda-tds-025c5ec81c571c9f753a
Original source and locator

Open the FDA primary source · HMI source record

summary food 50; Ni; source summary spreadsheet row 476.

Reference and scope

HMI cooked-rice Ni reference · 2 sampling families. Cooked rice as prepared, µg/kg as eaten. Distribution of sample or subgroup median concentration values.

Reference (µg/kg)Q1MedianQ3
Primary HMI reference62.5110110
Alternative weighting62.5110110

55 reference units; 2 sampling families. Counts describe evidence units, not independent studies or certainty.

Contributing familyReference unitsWeight
FDA Total Diet Study, FY2018–FY20205450%
Baxter et al. 2015150%

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-Ni:fe3766fec74f

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.