US HEALTH watchdog Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is conducting a detailed inspection of the arsenic level in rice being sold in the American market, including the basmati variety imported from India.
While an analytical study of more than 1,300 samples of rice and rice products, including basmati from India, did not show any alarming levels of arsenic presence, the FDA will now conduct a ‘comprehensive risk assessment’ study to determine the long-term impact of the arsenic found in rice.
Arsenic is a chemical element present in the environment from both natural and human sources and its inorganic forms have been closely associated with long-term health effects such as higher rates of skin, bladder and lung cancers.
While most crops don’t readily take up much arsenic from the ground, rice is different because it takes up arsenic from soil and water more readily than other grains.
In a latest consumer update, the FDA said it has ‘increased its testing of rice and rice products’ to determine the level and types of arsenic found in these products, usually a life-long dietary staple.
The regulator said its next step would be ‘to conduct a risk assessment’. It will analyse the health risk
associated with eating rice and rice products to determine the steps required to minimise the risks for consumers, including vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant women.
The draft risk assessment will be made available for public comment following peer review, it said.
Agency scientists have so far determined that amount of detectable arsenic is too low in rice and rice product samples to cause any ‘immediate or short-term’ adverse effects.
US rice imports have been increasing in the last 25 years. Most US rice imports are aromatic varieties from
Asia- jasmine from Thailand and basmati from India, the world’s largest producer of the aromatic grain.
