Rice finding 1840
Source evidence and comparison details for the Rice profile.
Parboiled rice · Inorganic arsenic (iAs) · 39 retail samples.
Selected finding and reference
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: 3.2–8.6 µg/45g dry rice.
HMI baseline position
High · HMI dry-grain iAs reference · 8 sampling families. Mean as reported: 113 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: High. 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): High.
- Without Carey et al. (2020): High.
- Without WHO GEMS/Food: High.
- Without Houlihan et al. 2025: High.
- Without Meharg et al. 2009: High.
- Without Navaretnam et al. 2025: High.
- Without Signes-Pastor et al. 2016: High.
- Without Welna et al. 2018: High.
These checks show dependence on each sampling family; they are not confidence intervals.
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 | 5.1 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
- FDA rice survey (2013)
- Carey et al. (2020)
- WHO GEMS/Food
- Houlihan et al. 2025
- Meharg et al. 2009
- Navaretnam et al. 2025
- Signes-Pastor et al. 2016
- Welna et al. 2018
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.