Rice Grain Cadmium Concentrations in the Global Supply‑Chain
Date
2020-02-19
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Exposure and Health
Abstract
One of cadmium’s major exposure routes to humans is through rice consumption. The concentrations of cadmium in the
global polished (white), market rice supply-chain were assessed in 2270 samples, purchased from retailers across 32 countries,
encompassing 6 continents. It was found on a global basis that East Africa had the lowest cadmium with a median for both
Malawi and Tanzania at 4.9 μg/kg, an order of magnitude lower than the highest country, China with a median at 69.3 μg/
kg. The Americas were typically low in cadmium, but the Indian sub-continent was universally elevated. In particular certain
regions of Bangladesh had high cadmium, that when combined with the high daily consumption rate of rice of that country,
leads to high cadmium exposures. Concentrations of cadmium were compared to the European Standard for polished rice
of 200 μg/kg and 5% of the global supply-chain exceeded this threshold. For the stricter standard of 40 μg/kg for processed
infant foods, for which rice can comprise up to 100% by composition (such as rice porridges, puffed rice cereal and cakes),
25% of rice would not be suitable for making pure rice baby foods. Given that rice is also elevated in inorganic arsenic, the
only region of the world where both inorganic arsenic and cadmium were low in grain was East Africa.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Arsenic, Cadmium, Exposure route, Rice
Citation
Shi, Z., Carey, M., Meharg, C. et al. Rice Grain Cadmium Concentrations in the Global Supply-Chain. Expo Health (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-020-00349-6