Estimation of total arsenic contamination and exposure in Brazilian rice and infant cereals

Abstract

Arsenic (As) causes health effects, especially cancer. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) can contain high As concentrations. Using ICP-MS, we quantified the total As (_tAs) levels in the main brands of rice (n = 103) and infant cereals (n = 27) consumed by Brazilians. The levels were compared to the maximum limits prescribed by regulatory agencies. We estimated the daily intake (EDI) of As by Brazilians by combining the mean As concentration determined in the white rice samples with per capita daily consumption divided by the average body weight as reported by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics in 2010. The possible health risk for consumers was assessed by calculating the margin of exposure (MOE) as prescribed by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Moreover, _tAs was determined in 11 pesticides used by Brazilian farmers. The _tAs levels in the rice ranged from 0.003 to 1.3 mg kg⁻¹. Approximately 27% of the white rice contained _tAs levels above the limit set by Mercosul (0.3 mg kg⁻¹) and 45% were above the limit set by the European Commission (0.2 mg kg⁻¹). In the infant cereals, _tAs levels ranged from 0.003 to 0.243 mg kg⁻¹. In the pesticides, _tAs levels ranged from 0.005 to 0.315 mg L⁻¹. The EDI showed that, on average, Brazilians consume 4.13 µg As kg⁻¹ BW weekly. In addition, a low MOE was observed, demonstrating that high use of rice presents a risk of high inorganic (_iAs) exposure, which represents a public health concern.

Keywords:

• Arsenic
• rice
• infant cereals
• ICP-MS
• toxic effects

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (Process No 440175/2014-3). N. Fão had a CNPq MSc. Research fellowship and S.C. Garcia is a recipient of CNPq research fellowship.