Inorganic arsenic contents in ready-to-eat rice products and various Korean rice determined by a highly sensitive gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Rice and rice products have been reported to contain high contents of toxic inorganic arsenic (iAs). The inorganic arsenic contents in microwavable ready-to-eat rice products (n=30) and different types of Korean rice (n=102) were determined by a gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The method showed low limit of detection (0.015pg), high intra- and inter-day repeatability (<7.3%, RSD), and recovery rates (90-117%). The mean iAs content in the ready-to-eat rice products was 59μgkg (dry weight basis). The mean iAs contents in polished white, brown, black, and waxy rice were 65, 109, 91, and 66μgkg, respectively. The percentages of ready-to-eat rice products, white, brown, black, and waxy rice containing iAs over the maximum level (100μgkg) set by EU for the infant foods were 17, 4, 70, 36 and 0%, respectively.