Inorganic arsenic contents in ready-to-eat rice products and various Korean rice determined by a highly sensitive gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Rice and rice products have been reported to contain high contents of toxic inorganic arsenic (iAs). The inorganic arsenic contents in microwavable ready-to-eat rice products (n=30) and different types of Korean rice (n=102) were determined by a gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS). The method showed low limit of detection (0.015pg), high intra- and inter-day repeatability (<7.3%, RSD), and recovery rates (90–117%). The mean iAs content in the ready-to-eat rice products was 59μgkg−1 (dry weight basis). The mean iAs contents in polished white, brown, black, and waxy rice were 65, 109, 91, and 66μgkg−1, respectively. The percentages of ready-to-eat rice products, white, brown, black, and waxy rice containing iAs over the maximum level (100μgkg−1) set by EU for the infant foods were 17, 4, 70, 36 and 0%, respectively.