Rice finding 341
Source evidence and comparison details for the Rice profile.
Packed rice as sold (milling form not stated) · Total arsenic (tAs) · 30 rice samples (triplicate analyses).
Selected finding and reference
30 rice samples (triplicate analyses). Basis: unspecified; samples oven-dried (80 C 2 h, then 105 C 6 h) before dry ashing for Cd/Pb, so values are likely dry-weight but the paper does not state the reporting basis.
No non-detects reported; LOD Cd 1, Pb 7, As 10 ug/kg; treatment of values below LOD not described
HMI baseline position
Moderate · HMI uncooked-grain tAs reference · 16 sampling families. Mean as reported: 188 µg/kg. HMI median 139–140 (bounded); Q1 110; Q3 230 µg/kg. 16 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 is an external comparison; the finding does not set the 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 Alrashdi et al. (2024): Moderate.
- Without WHO GEMS/Food: Moderate.
- Without Authors 2016: Moderate.
- Without Clair-Caliot et al. 2021: Moderate.
- Without EFSA 2009: Moderate.
- Without Gama et al. 2025: Moderate.
- Without Implications 2023: Moderate.
- Without Limmer et al. 2026: Moderate.
- Without Liu et al. 2022: Moderate.
- Without Lockwood et al. 2023: Moderate.
- Without A.A. et al. 2008: Moderate.
- Without Moreda-Pineiro et al. 2020: Moderate.
- Without Sim et al. 2024: Moderate.
- Without U.S. 2021: Moderate.
- Without Zavala et al. 2008: Moderate.
- Without Wheat et al. 2024: Moderate.
These checks show dependence on each sampling family; they are not confidence intervals.
Collection period
Collection date unreported
No year-by-year sample register is reconstructed from this summary.
Geographic scope
Indian
Reported growing area.
Sampling, analysis and reporting limits
Dry ashing (550 C) and HNO3 for Cd/Pb by graphite-furnace AAS (Varian AA-1275); HNO3 wet digestion for As by hydride-generation AAS.
No non-detects reported; LOD Cd 1, Pb 7, As 10 ug/kg; treatment of values below LOD not described
Source inconsistency noted (does not affect this value): Table 1 EDIs back-calculated give As Mazandaran 92, Gilan 101, Pakistani 187, Indian 136 ug/kg; text says the maximum was Indian 0.188 mg/kg, but Table 1 implies the 0.188 value belongs to Pakistani rice (possible label swap). Gilan and Pakistani As means are printed only as Figure 3 bars.
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 statistic | Original result | Displayed unit conversion |
|---|---|---|
| mean | The maximum and minimum of As concentration was observed in Indian rice (0.188±0.032 mg/kg | mg/kg x 1000 |
Original SD: 0.032 mg/kg.
Results 'Arsenic' paragraph, p.252; Figure 3.
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 tAs reference · 16 sampling families. Uncooked grain as analysed (native or unstated moisture), µg/kg. Distribution of subgroup median concentration values.
| Reference (µg/kg) | Q1 | Median | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary HMI reference | 110 | 139–140 (bounded) | 230 |
| Alternative weighting | 110 | 139–140 (bounded) | 230 |
102 reference units; 16 sampling families. Counts describe evidence units, not independent studies or certainty.
| Contributing family | Reference units | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Alrashdi et al. (2024) | 6 | 6% |
| WHO GEMS/Food | 49 | 6% |
| Authors 2016 | 3 | 6% |
| Clair-Caliot et al. 2021 | 1 | 6% |
| EFSA 2009 | 2 | 6% |
| Gama et al. 2025 | 1 | 6% |
| Implications 2023 | 11 | 6% |
| Limmer et al. 2026 | 1 | 6% |
| Liu et al. 2022 | 2 | 6% |
| Lockwood et al. 2023 | 11 | 6% |
| A.A. et al. 2008 | 5 | 6% |
| Moreda-Pineiro et al. 2020 | 3 | 6% |
| Sim et al. 2024 | 1 | 6% |
| U.S. 2021 | 2 | 6% |
| Zavala et al. 2008 | 3 | 6% |
| Wheat et al. 2024 | 1 | 6% |
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
- Alrashdi et al. (2024)
- WHO GEMS/Food
- Authors 2016
- Clair-Caliot et al. 2021
- EFSA 2009
- Gama et al. 2025
- Implications 2023
- Limmer et al. 2026
- Liu et al. 2022
- Lockwood et al. 2023
- A.A. et al. 2008
- Moreda-Pineiro et al. 2020
- Sim et al. 2024
- U.S. 2021
- Zavala et al. 2008
- Wheat et al. 2024
Reference version and interpretation
Frozen evidence selection: 2026-10-22. Method: hmi-pooled-reference-v2.
hmi-pooled-reference-v2:rice-native-tAs:1784506f9277
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.