The intake of inorganic arsenic from long grain rice and rice-based baby food in Finland – Low safety margin warrants follow up

We evaluated total and inorganic arsenic levels in long grain rice and rice based baby foods on Finnish market. Inorganic arsenic was analysed with an HPLC–ICP-MS system. The total arsenic concentration was determined with an ICP-MS method. In this study, the inorganic arsenic levels in long grain rice varied from 0.09 to 0.28 mg/kg (n = 8) and the total arsenic levels from 0.11 to 0.65 mg/kg. There was a good correlation between the total and inorganic arsenic levels in long grain rice at a confidence level of 95%. The total arsenic levels of rice-based baby foods were in the range 0.02 – 0.29 mg/kg (n = 10), however, the level of inorganic arsenic could only be quantitated in four samples, on average they were 0.11 mg/kg. Our estimation of inorganic arsenic intake from long grain rice and rice-based baby food in Finland indicate that in every age group the intake is close to the lowest BMDL0.1 value 0.3 μg/kg bw/day set by EFSA. According to our data, the intake of inorganic arsenic should be more extensively evaluated.