MARCH 18 – 22, 2018 | New Orleans, LA
ACS National Meeting & Expo |Nexus of Food, Energy & Water
ACS ANYL Featured SymposiumÂ
Challenges in Determining Arsenic Compounds in Rice
Organizers:
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Julian Tyson, Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA |
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Patrick J. Gray, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, MD |
Arsenic exists in two forms, organic and inorganic. When encountered in the diet, inorganic arsenic is considered to be the more toxic of the two forms. Rice has higher levels of inorganic arsenic than other foods, in part because as rice plants grow, the plant and grain tend to absorb arsenic more readily than other food crops. Regulatory and advisory agencies are introducing limits; for example, in 2015 the Commission Regulation for the EU adopted 200 µg kg-1 for inorganic arsenic in white rice and 100 µg kg-1 for rice destined for the production of infant foods, while in the US, in 2016 the FDA proposed an action level of 100 µg kg-1 for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal. Our knowledge of the details of the contamination (and how it might be evolving with time) and our ability to enforce the proposed regulations require the provision of reliable information about the concentrations of the various arsenic compounds in rice. This day-long symposium addresses two challenges: (a) the proliferation of HPLC-ICP-MS methods that do not produce consistent results, and (b) the prospects for low-cost screening procedures. Nine speakers from academia, industry, and US Government agencies are participating. The day will conclude with a round-table discussion.