Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Inorganic arsenic contents in infant rice powders and infant rice snacks marketed in Korea determined by a highly sensitive gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry following derivatization with British Anti-Lewisite

  • Published:
Food Science and Biotechnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Toxic inorganic arsenic (iAs) has been reported to be present in high quantity in rice and rice-based products. The inorganic arsenic contents in infant foods (n = 59) of ready-to-cook infant rice powders and infant rice snacks marketed in Korea were determined by a highly sensitive gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS). The mean iAs contents in the infant rice powder and infant rice snacks were 65.6 and 54.0 μg/kg, respectively. The percentages of rice powders and rice snack containing iAs over the maximum level (100 μg/kg) set by EU for the infant foods were found to be 21, and 6%, respectively. This result clearly suggested that regulation regarding the maximum limit of iAs levels for the baby rice products is urgently needed to be set in Korea. This represents the first report on the iAs levels in ready-to-cook infant rice powder products and infant snacks marketed in Korea.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  1. Signes-Pastor AJ, Carey M, Meharg AA. Inorganic arsenic in rice-based products for infants and young children. Food Chem. 191: 128–134 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. William PN, Villada A, Deacon C, Raab A, Figuerola J, Green AJ, Feldmann J, Meharg AA. Greatly enhanced arsenic shoot assimilation in rice lead to elevate grain levels compared to wheat and barley. Environ. Sci. Technol. 41: 6854–6859 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Xu XY, McGrath SP, Meharg AA, Zhao FJ. Growing rice aerobically markedly decreases arsenic accumulation. Environ. Sci. Technol. 42: 5574–5579 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Sun G, Williams PN, Carey A, Zhu Y, Deacon C, Raab A, Feldmann J, Islam RM, Meharg AA. Inorganic arsenic in rice bran and its products are an order of magnitude higher than in bulk grain. Environ. Sci. Technol. 42: 7542–7546 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sánchez-Rodas D, Corns WT, Chen B, Stockwell PB, Atomic fluorescence spectrometry: a suitable detection technique in speciation studies for arsenic, selenium, antimony and mercury. J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom. 25: 933–946 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). In: IARC monographs on the evaluation of carcinogenic risks to humans, Volume 100, A review of human carcinogens, Part C: Arsenic, metals, fibers, and dusts. Lyon (France): IARC; 2012, p. 41–93.

  7. Chen G, Chen T. SPE speciation of inorganic arsenic in rice followed by hydride-generation atomic fluorescence spectrometric quantification. Talanta 119: 202–206 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ali J, Tuzen M, Kazi TG, Hazer B, Inorganic arsenic speciation in water samples by miniaturized solid phase microextraction using a new polystyrene polydimethyl siloxane polymer in micropipette tip of syringe system. Talanta 161: 450–4 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. European Commission, Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1006 of 25 June 2015, amending Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 as regards maximum levels of inorganic arsenic in food stuffs.

  10. Vahter M. Effects of arsenic on maternal and fetal health. Annu. Rev. Nutr. 29: 381–399 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Parvez F, Wasserman GA, Factor-Litvak P, Liu X, Slavkovich V, Siddique AB, Sultana R, Sultana R, Islam T, Levy D, Mey JL, van Geen A, Khan K, Kline J, Ahsan H, Graziano JH. Arsenic exposure and motor function among children in Bangladesh. Environ. Health Perspect. 119: 1665–1670 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Wasserman GA, Liu X, Parvez F, Ahsan H, Factor-Litvak P, Kline J, van Geen A, Slavkovich V, Loiacono NJ, Levy D, Cheng Z, Graziano JH. Water arsenic exposure and intellectual function in 6-year-old children in Araihazar, Bangladesh. Environ. Health Perspect. 115:285–289 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Rahman A, Vahter M, Smith AH, Nermell B, Yunus M, El Arifeen S, Persson LA, Ekström EC. Arsenic exposure during pregnancy and size at birth: a prospective cohort study in Bangladesh. Am. J. Epidemiol. 169(3):304–12 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. FDA, 2016. FDA proposes limit for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal.

  15. Meharg AA, Sun G, Williams PN, Adamako E, Deacon C, Zhu YG, Feldmann J, Raab A. Inorganic arsenic levels in baby rice are of concern. Environ. Pollut. 152:746–9 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Llorente-Mirandes T, Calderon J, Lopez-Sanchez JF, Centrich F, Rubio R. A fully validated method for the determination of arsenic species in rice and infant cereal products. Pure Appl. Chem. 84: 225–238 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Ljung K, Palm B, Grandér M, Vahter M. High concentrations of essential and toxic elements in infant formula and infant foods—a matter of concern. Food Chem. 127:943–51 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Carbonell-Barrachina ÁA, Wu X, Ramírez-Gandolfo A, Norton GJ, Burló F, Deacon C, Meharg AA. Inorganic arsenic contents in rice-based infant foods from Spain, UK, China and USA, Environ. Pollut. 163: 77–83 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Burló F, Ramírez-Gandolfo A, Signes-Pastor AJ, Haris PI, Carbonell-Barrachina ÁA. Arsenic contents in Spanish infant rice, pureed infant foods, and rice. J. Food Sci. 77: T15–19 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Kang JH, Jung HJ, Jung MY. One step derivatization with British Anti-Lewisite in combination with gas chromatography coupled to triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry for the fast and selective analysis of inorganic arsenic in rice. Anal. Chim. Acta 934: 231–238 (2016)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Jung MY, Kang JH, Jung HJ, Ma SY. Inorganic arsenic contents in ready-to-eat rice products and various Korean rice determined by a highly sensitive gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Food Chem. 240: 1179–1183 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Choi, J. Y., Khan, N., Nho, E. Y., Choi H., Park K. S., Cho M. J., Youn H. J. & Kim K. S., (2016). Speciation of arsenic in rice by high-performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Analytical Letters, 49, 1926–1937.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Yim SR, Park GY, Lee KW, Chung M, Shim S. Determination of total arsenic content and arsenic speciation in different types of rice. Food Sci. Biotech. 26: 293–298 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Park SH et al., Risk assessment of heavy metals in infant & young children foods. A report of internal research project, Kore Food & Drug Administration (2012)

  25. Oliveira A, Gonzalez MH, Queiroz HM, Cadore S. Fractionation of inorganic arsenic by adjusting hydrogen ion concentration. Food Chem. 213: 76–82 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Musil S, Pétursdóttir ÁH, Raab A, Gunnlaugsdóttir H, Krupp E, Feldmann J. Speciation without chromatography using selective hydride generation: inorganic arsenic in rice and samples of marine origin. Anal. Chem. 86: 993–999 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Anawar HM. Arsenic speciation in environmental samples by hydride generation and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. Talanta 88 30–42 (2012)..

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Narukawa T, Chiba K, Sinaviwat S, Feldmann J, A rapid monitoring method for inorganic arsenic in rice flour using reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. J. Chromatogr. A. 1479: 129–136 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Huang J, Ilgen G, Fecher P, Quantitative chemical extraction for arsenic speciation in rice grains. J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom. 25: 800–802 (2010)..

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Frenich AG, Vidal JLM, Moreno JLF, Romero-González R, Compensation for matrix effects in gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry using a single point standard addition. J. Chromatogr. A. 1216: 4798–4808 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Farzan SF, Li Z, Korrick SA, Spiegelman D, Enelow R, Nadeau K, Baker E, Karagas, MR, Infant infections and respiratory symptoms in relation to arsenic exposure in a U.S. Cohort. Environ. Health Perspect. 124: 840–847 (2016).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Gilbert-Diamond D, Emond JA, Baker ER, Korrick SA, Karagas MR. Relation between in Utero arsenic exposure and birth outcomes in a cohort of mothers and their newborns from New Hampshire. Environ. Health Perspect. 124,: 1299–1307 (2016).

  33. Rodríguez-Barranco M, Gil F, Hernández AF, Alguacil J, Lorca A, Mendoza R, Gómez I, Molina-Villalba I, González-Alzaga B, Aguilar-Garduño C, Rohlman DS, Lacasaña M, Postnatal arsenic exposure and attention impairment in school children. Cortex 74, 370–382 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Llorente-Mirandes T, Calderón J, Centrich F, Rubio R., López-Sánchez JF, A need for determination of arsenic species at low levels in cereal-based food and infant cereals. Validation of a method by IC–ICPMS. Food Chem. 147: 377–385 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Hernández-Martínez R, Navarro-Blasco I. Survey of total mercury and arsenic content in infant cereals marketed in Spain and estimated dietary intake. Food Control 30: 423–432 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Jackson BP, Taylor VF, Punshon T, Cottingham KL. Arsenic concentration and speciation in infant formulas and first foods. Pure and Applied Chemistry, 84: 215–223 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Rintala E, Ekholm P, Koivisto P, Peltonen K, Venalainen E. The intake of inorganic arsenic from long grain rice and rice-based baby food in Finland—Low safety margin warrants follow up. Food Chem. 150: 199–205 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. USFDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). (2013). Arsenic in rice: Full analytical results from rice/rice products. Available: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/Metals/ucm319916.htm. Online 23 July 2014.

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author greatly appreciates Ms. Ju Hee Kang and Ms. Hyun Jeong Jung for their technical assistances.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food and Biotechnology, Graduate School, Woosuk University, Samnye-Eup, Wanju-Gun, Jeonbuk Province, 565-701, Republic of Korea

    Mun Yhung Jung

  2. Agricultural and Food Product Safety Analysis Center, Woosuk University, Wanju-Gun, Republic of Korea

    Mun Yhung Jung

Authors
  1. Mun Yhung Jung
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mun Yhung Jung.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 23 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jung, M.Y. Inorganic arsenic contents in infant rice powders and infant rice snacks marketed in Korea determined by a highly sensitive gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry following derivatization with British Anti-Lewisite. Food Sci Biotechnol 27, 617–622 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-017-0260-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-017-0260-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation