Arsenic in the food supply has been a concern since public news reports in 2011 of the detection of arsenic in apple juice. Food and Drug... Show moreArsenic in the food supply has been a concern since public news reports in 2011 of the detection of arsenic in apple juice. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) work on this issue has proposed a guidance for no more than 10 ppb of inorganic arsenic in apple juice. More recently rice harvested from the southern states of the United States is of concern of the arsenic content. Arsenic levels in rice have been attributed to the natural levels of arsenic in the soil and the farming practices used to grow rice. FDA released data that showed inorganic arsenic amounts in long grain white rice between 70 and 150 ppb. This work presents a process through washing/ rinsing to reduce the arsenic levels in prepared/cooked rice. Four different rice materials were obtained from Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana. Different processing methods such as common cooking, washing and cooking, excess water cooking, were used to prepare the rice. The common cooking method cooked the rice in a 2:1 (water : rice) ratio. The washing and cooking method rinsed a batch of rice with a 2:1 (water : rice) ratio at first, and then poured off wash water and added new water to cook rice in a 2:1 (water : rice) ratio. The excess water cooking method cooked the rice in excess water of a ratio of 4:1 (water : rice) and the excess water was removed after cooking. Controls of raw rice samples were also evaluated. The common cooked rice showed variable to no difference (-13.9% to 14.9%) from the raw control in arsenic retention. The washed and cooked rice showed a 9.8% to 36.8% reduction of arsenic from the control. The excess water cooked rice showed the greatest reduction of arsenic from 39.1% to 65.5% compared to the control. The species of arsenic mimic the total arsenic loss. There is a visible trend for reduction of arsenic content by washing, but the most reduction was achieved by cooking rice with an excess volume of water. M.S. in Food Safety and Technology, May 2015 Show less
