Arsenic in your Foods

Consumer Reports just released a new report on high arsenic levels found rice products such as organic rice baby cereals, rice breakfast cereals, brown rice, and white rice.

Arsenic not only is a potent human carcinogen but also can set up children for other health problems in later life.
The FDA will be doing a study on these levels and will be releasing a report hopefully by the end of the year.

In virtually every product tested by Consumer Reports (CR), they found measurable amounts of total arsenic in its two forms. They found significant levels of inorganic arsenic, which is a carcinogen, in almost every product category, along with organic arsenic, which is less toxic but still of concern. Moreover, the foods CR checked are popular staples, eaten by adults and children alike. See the chart summarizing results of our tests for arsenic in rice or rice products.

CR also discovered that some infant rice cereals, which are often a baby’s first solid food, had levels of inorganic arsenic at least five times more than has been found in alternatives such as oatmeal. Given our findings, we suggest limiting the consumption of rice products. Use CR recommendations.

Consumers Union believes a standard for arsenic should be set for rice, and industry should accelerate efforts to reduce arsenic levels in rice. They should also develop types of rice that take up less arsenic, and use rice with the lowest possible arsenic in products for young children, such as infant rice cereal.

CR scientists are also asking regulators to prohibit agricultural practices that may lead to increases in arsenic in rice:

• The EPA should phase out use of pesticides containing arsenic.
• The USDA and the EPA should end the use of arsenic-laden manure as fertilizer.
• The FDA should ban the feeding of arsenic-containing drugs and animal byproducts to animals.

To find out more about what Consumers Union is doing on the subject and to get involved, go to ConsumersUnion.org/arsenic. On the international stage, a group advising the World Health Organization is meeting in 2014 to consider proposed arsenic standards for rice. Limits of 200 ppb (inorganic) for white rice and 300 ppb (total or inorganic) for brown rice are under discussion.

After the concerns raised by our juice story, the FDA says it is confident in the overall safety of apple juice. “FDA has made significant progress in developing a proposed action level for arsenic in apple juice and is nearing completion of this work,” the agency says in a statement.

The FDA also says it is studying arsenic in rice and rice products to determine the level and types of arsenic typically found and to identify ways to reduce it.

“The need for a standard for arsenic in food is long overdue,” says Trudy Bialic, director of public affairs for PCC Natural Markets, a Seattle-area chain that is America’s largest food co-op. “Certainly there are excellent and committed people in FDA’s ranks, but it’s shameful the agency has not addressed this problem more systematically, leaving us to figure it out on our own to protect ourselves.”

To view entire Consumer Report article,  click here

Kelly Devine Rickert MS RD CSSD LDN
St. James Outpatient Dietitian
708-679-2717