Rice finding 1839

Source evidence and comparison details for the Rice profile.

FDA rice survey (2013)

Instant rice · Inorganic arsenic (iAs) · 14 retail samples.

Selected finding and reference

≈58 µg/kg (mean)Mean · source summary.14 retail samples.

Basis: FDA 45 g dry-weight rice serving; rounded average converted to µg/kg dry weight. Summary averages use half total arsenic when samples were not speciated, and half the detection limit when total arsenic was below detection. No new zero or sample-level values are imputed.

Source-reported range: 1.4–6 µg/45g dry rice.

HMI baseline position

Low · HMI dry-grain iAs reference · 8 sampling families. Mean as reported: 57.8 µg/kg. HMI median 96; Q1 70; Q3 106 µg/kg. 8 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

Without FDA rice survey (2013): Low.
Without Carey et al. (2020): Low.
Without WHO GEMS/Food: Low.
Without Houlihan et al. 2025: Low.
Without Meharg et al. 2009: Low.
Without Navaretnam et al. 2025: Low.
Without Signes-Pastor et al. 2016: Low.
Without Welna et al. 2018: Low.

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

Reference, contributing evidence and methods

Collection period

2012–2013 release

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

Geographic scope

United States · retail survey

Purchase market; origins and processing differ by category.

Sampling, analysis and reporting limits

FDA arsenic speciation survey; summary category averages, including specified substitutions.

Summary averages use half total arsenic when samples were not speciated, and half the detection limit when total arsenic was below detection. No new zero or sample-level values are imputed.

Different retail products in the same historical FDA survey, with unequal sample counts and mixed origins. Basmati and jasmine categories include both brown and white products; preparation also varies. These are descriptive category averages, not matched grains, a cultivar effect, statistical significance or a current sourcing guarantee. FDA used substitutions for some non-speciated or non-detected samples. Rounded original averages are converted using the stated 45 g dry-rice serving; conversion adds no measurement precision.

Shared samples and study overlap

The September 2013 release includes September 2012 samples. Category rows are reused within this one survey, not independent studies; mixed Other category excluded.

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 statistic	Original result	Displayed unit conversion
mean	2.6 µg/45g dry rice (mean)	Rounded µg per 45 g dry rice × 1000/45 = approximate µg/kg dry weight; no moisture or cooking conversion

Summary Table: printed page 1 (PDF page 2); rice serving basis: printed page 12 (PDF page 13), footnote 2; full rice analytical results and LOD/LOQ appendix.

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 dry-grain iAs reference · 8 sampling families. Dry-weight grain, µg/kg dry weight. Distribution of subgroup median concentration values.

Reference (µg/kg)	Q1	Median	Q3
Primary HMI reference	70	96	106
Alternative weighting	70	96	106

74 reference units; 8 sampling families. Counts describe evidence units, not independent studies or certainty.

Contributing family	Reference units	Weight
FDA rice survey (2013)	8	13%
Carey et al. (2020)	29	12%
WHO GEMS/Food	2	13%
Houlihan et al. 2025	16	13%
Meharg et al. 2009	4	13%
Navaretnam et al. 2025	1	13%
Signes-Pastor et al. 2016	13	12%
Welna et al. 2018	1	13%

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-dry-iAs:f14ec1f869e4

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.