Arsenic in rice not a risk, FDA says

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that it found no evidence that current levels of arsenic in rice pose an immediate health risk.

The finding comes two months after the agency proposed new limits on arsenic in apple juice, after a public outcry caused the agency to look at the issue more closely.

The agency tested more than 1,300 types of rice and rice products, like rice cakes and infant cereals, and found that arsenic levels ranged from 3 to 7 micrograms per serving, amounts the agency said were not hazardous to human health in the short term.

Most rice contains much higher levels of arsenic than apple juice, said Keeve Nachman, a scientist who studies arsenic in food at the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University, but because there is such a wide variety of products made with it, and because it is present at such different levels, the analysis for rice is more complicated.

Arsenic is a carcinogen when consumed in large enough quantities. It occurs naturally in the environment, but it can also be the effect of industrial contamination.

Arsenic in the food supply was brought to the public’s attention in 2011 by the physician and television personality Mehmet Oz, who charged that levels in apple juice were too high.

In July, the FDA proposed a new limit for acceptable levels in apple juice, though it said it had conducted a broad study with many samples and had found apple juice to be safe.

A microgram is one-millionth of a gram, and a FDA spokeswoman said the levels they found in the rice and rice product samples were too low to cause harm in the short term.