In August, the US FDA finalized their previously-issued guidance on inorganic arsenic in rice cereals for infants. After evaluation of the health risks associated with infant exposure to inorganic arsenic, as well as the testing results of commercially-available products, the FDA has concluded that good manufacturing practices can reliably produce rice cereals with no more than 100 µg/kg (ppb) inorganic arsenic. Consequently, 100 µg/kg inorganic arsenic has been set as the action level for these products.
What does this mean for companies manufacturing or selling rice-based infant cereals? Products should undergo reflexive testing, wherein they are initially evaluated for total arsenic content. Any products containing greater than 100 ppb total arsenic should then be further analyzed for inorganic arsenic. Companies should also consider testing incoming sources of rice and other raw ingredients for inorganic arsenic content to help ensure that the finished products made from them will fall within the FDA guideline. Any finished products containing greater than 100 ppb inorganic arsenic may be considered adulterated under section 402(a)(1) of the FD&C Act and potentially subject to enforcement action by the FDA.
Brooks Applied Labs (BAL) has been supporting the safety of the food supply by offering testing services for metal contaminants (e.g., arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury) and inorganic arsenic for over a decade. In fact, partly because of our expertise, BAL was the only commercial laboratory involved in the recent certification of a new reference material for infant food testing, BARI-1.
To learn more about how our services can help with your products or project, please contact us today!
We are pleased to announce the successful launch of our new lab in Calgary!
On June 12th, 2024, we celebrated the grand opening of Brooks Applied Labs’ new Calgary location. Thank you to everyone who joined us!
The new lab will expand our reach to conduct advanced analytical testing, enhancing our capabilities in environmental chemistry, trace metals, and speciation analysis.
For more information or inquiries, please contact us at: Calgary@brooksapplied.com
While heavy metal contamination of foods, particularly those for infants, has been known about for years, recent events have once again brought it to public attention.
On November 9th one of Brooks Applied Labs’ Technical Services staff, Ben Wozniak, spoke at the North American Metals Council – Selenium Working Group on the critical importance of quantitation limits (QLs) when performing analyses for regulatory compliance. Because of variation in how they are defined by regulatory agencies and how laboratories may establish acceptance limits at the QL, best practice is to ensure that the quantitation limit be no more than one-fifth the regulatory compliance level. For example, if a discharge limit is set at 1 µg/L, the laboratory should ideally achieve a quantitation limit of 0.2 µg/L or less in the sample matrix. Doing so will reduce uncertainty in the concentration as it approaches the regulatory limit, so industry and regulators can have greater confidence that any results above the compliance limit are representative and not simply due to method variability.
Brooks Applied Labs LLC (BAL) is excited to announce that we have joined the 
BAL Research Scientist 
Due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the 
In the midst of this global pandemic, we thought you could use a distraction from Zoom meetings and mask wearing. Why not take a moment to complete this short survey for us? This unprecedented situation we are all experiencing requires new approaches to how we do our jobs and meet our clients’ expectations for the essential work that we perform. What should we keep doing? Where should we make adjustments? Will you please take 3 minutes to tell us what you think? This survey literally has only 9 questions and can be anonymous. We are wild about our clients, and we’d love to hear from you!