Preliminary investigation of arsenic in rice consumed in United Arab Emirates

ABSTRACT

To investigate arsenic [As] content in eleven randomly selected brands of rice consumed in United Arab Emirates [UAE]. The arsenic content of different rice brands was analyzed by acid digestion method in combination with the hybrid interface-atomic absorption spectrophotometer [AAS]. All the samples showed elevated concentrations of inorganic As [As]. The maximum As concentration was observed in rice sourced from the USA [0.925 +/- 0.017mg /kg], followed by US style parboiled rice from Thailand [0.852 +/- 0.056mg/ kg] and rice from Kolkata, India [0.808 +/- 0.018 mg/kg]. The rice sourced from the other countries that were studied showed a rather similar pattern in arsenic content. Exposure to As was found to depend on consumption, with higher consumption of rice contributing to higher As exposure and vice versa. Populations generally consume rice sourced from their country of origin. Hence based on published rice consumption patterns, we made an attempt to extrapolate this population-wise consumption pattern to the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake [PMTDI] of arsenic i.e. is 0.147mg /kg for an individual. The PMTDI standard established for food guidelines of the WHO is 0.0021 mg/ kg/ d As [equal to 0.14 mg/ 70 kg individual]. Our findings revealed arsenic contamination, above the PMTDI of all the rice brands investigated. Hence, the population is potentially at the risk of suffering from arsenic-related diseases due to the high consumption of rice. The results of our study are alarming and necessitate the need for immediate implementation of food standards and guidelines in the UAE as the population which sources its rice and rice based products from varying regions of the world may remain innocuous to the impending threat posed by As in rice. Concern must be expanded to include products and foods that contain rice and rice-derived ingredients, such as brown rice syrup, breakfast cereals, infant cereals, rice cakes, and rice beverages