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Communication
J. Environ. Monit., 2008, 10, 428 - 431, DOI: 10.1039/b800981c
Inorganic arsenic levels in rice milk exceed EU and US drinking water standards
Andrew A. Meharg, Claire Deacon, Robert C. J. Campbell, Anne-Marie Carey, Paul N. Williams, Joerg Feldmann and Andrea Raab
Under EU legislation, total arsenic levels in drinking water should not exceed 10
g l-1, while in the US this figure is set at 10 g l-1 inorganic arsenic. All rice milk samples analysed in a supermarket survey (n = 19) would fail the EU limit with up to 3 times this concentration recorded, while out of the subset that had arsenic species determined (n = 15), 80% had inorganic arsenic levels above 10 g l-1, with the remaining 3 samples approaching this value. It is a point for discussion whether rice milk is seen as a water substitute or as a food, there are no EU or US food standards highlighting the disparity between water and food regulations in this respect.
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