Jun 14, 2013
At a press conference during a meeting of the American Chemical Society, researchers from Monmouth University claimed that they had found as much as 12 milligrams of lead per kilogram of rice imported from Taiwan and China, or 40 times what the FDA considers a tolerable level.
They then speculated that the use of untreated industrial wastewater and sewage in irrigation was the likely source of the contamination.
This prompted numerous major media outlets to report that some imported rice may have dangerous levels of lead, triggering widespread concerns about food safety both in the US and abroad.
However, Monmouth’s results, acquired using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), were several orders of magnitude greater than previous research on lead in rice – provoking skepticism and even denials from Taiwanese officials.
When analyzed by the more precise technique of inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), it was determined that all of the samples had less than 1 milligram of lead per kilogram of rice and the researchers from Monmouth have since retracted their findings.
In an unrelated matter, a story in the New York Times last month regarding legitimate concerns over rice contaminated with cadmium served at restaurants in China inadvertently used the wrong unit of mass when they reported that
“One seafood restaurant served rice with an average 0.4 micrograms of cadmium per kilogram, double the maximum permitted by government standards.”
Cadmium concentrations this low would not normally be a matter of concern and are well within even the most stringent regulations.
Once the error was brought to their attention the article was revised to correctly reflect the concentration as 0.4 milligrams of cadmium per kilogram (see the bottom of the article for the correction), a level sufficient to raise health concerns.
Apr 30, 2013
During the American Chemical Society’s 245th National Meeting & Exposition last month in New Orleans, our own Dr. Joel Creswell presented data demonstrating the effectiveness of our method to determine various arsenic species in rice samples using high performance liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS), resulting in an extremely precise method with detection limits of less than three parts-per-billion (ppb) for each of the relevant arsenic species in rice and other food samples.
When fields are inundated with water to grow rice, arsenic (which can be naturally occurring or the result of contamination due to prior pesticide use, pollution, etc.) in the soil is readily dissolved and then taken up by this important food crop because of its chemical similarity to phosphorus, a critical element in plant growth. Even domestically or organically grown rice has consistently been shown to contain levels of arsenic that often exceed 100 ppb, which might be of some concern to populations that consume a significant amount of rice in their diet or in proportion to their body mass (i.e., toddlers).
It is already well established that inorganic species of arsenic (trivalent and pentavalent arsenic salts) can cause cancer, while organoarsenic compounds are considered to be relatively harmless. Distinguishing between these types of arsenic compounds in rice and rice products is critical to evaluating the potential impact on human health.
Brooks Rand Labs offers an accurate and precise analytical method to measure the concentrations of inorganic arsenic in rice and other food products to researchers, suppliers, and purchasers. Contact us today to learn more!
Feb 26, 2013
When mercury is released into the environment it can be transformed from inorganic mercury into the far more toxic form of methylmercury. Scientists have known for decades that bacteria are largely responsible for the methylation of mercury, but the precise mechanism by which this occurs has been a mystery. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently identified two genes that appear to allow certain strains of bacteria to methylate mercury. This exciting discovery may help lead to ways of limiting methylmercury production in the environment.
Feb 16, 2013
Organized by The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, a not-for-profit educational corporation (comprised of the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh and the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh), the Pittcon Conference & Expo attracts more than 17,000 attendees representing industry, academia, and government from over 90 countries. Visit us during Pittcon 2013, March 17-21 in Philadelphia, PA, at booth #1328 where we’ll be exhibiting our highly specialized laboratory instrumentation for mercury analysis. Our MERX modular mercury analyzers have proven to be among the most accurate, precise, and reliable analyzers available for the determination of low-level mercury and mercury species in environmental samples. Our analyzers are actively in use at some of the best universities, research institutions, and public and private laboratories around the world. Visit us at Pittcon or contact us today to learn more!
Feb 3, 2013
There is a growing awareness regarding the levels of arsenic in many types of food and beverages. However, the relative toxicity of the arsenic depends largely upon the species of arsenic that is present. Regulators and manufacturers are increasingly interested in distinguishing between the various species of arsenic found in food and beverages, and not just the total arsenic concentrations, when addressing human health concerns. The analytical techniques for determining the specific arsenic species in food and beverages can vary considerably from laboratory to laboratory. On behalf of the AOAC Contaminant Community, Brooks Rand Labs is conducting an arsenic speciation interlaboratory comparison study. To learn more about this study and register to participate, please return this form by March 8 or call 206-632-6206.
Jan 20, 2013
Through collaborative research, the Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) assesses emerging threats to wildlife and ecosystems, while using those findings to inform decision makers and advance environmental awareness. The BRI Center for Mercury Studies, in cooperation with ZMWG and also in advance of the INC5 session, released a report last month based on the data compiled in their Global Biotic Mercury Synthesis Database – a project that collected data about the concentrations of mercury in marine species from around the world – to identify which species of seafood can safely contribute to nutritional needs and compared this to global marine fish harvest data: Mercury in the Global Environment: Patterns of Global Seafood Mercury Concentrations and their Relationship with Human Health.
Jan 13, 2013
The fifth and final session of the International Negotiating Committee to prepare a global legally binding instrument on mercury (INC5) will take place January 13-18 in Geneva, Switzerland. Established in 2009 by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and ministers of the environment from over 140 countries, the committee has the goal of developing an international treaty to curb mercury emissions and discharges in order to reduce this threat to human health and the environment. The committee plans to have all negotiations completed prior to the 27th session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum taking place this February in Kenya, and to ratify the treaty later this year in Japan.
Jan 4, 2013
Founded in 2005 by the European Environmental Bureau and the Mercury Policy Project, the Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) is an international coalition of nearly 100 non-governmental organizations that advocate for human health and the environment.With the goal of reducing mercury in the global environment to a minimum, ZMWG strives to eliminate the supply, demand, and emissions of mercury from all anthropogenic sources. In advance of the INC5 session in Geneva, ZMWG released a report last month urging that the acceptable limits of dietary exposure to mercury be lowered based on the findings of recent epidemiological research, while encouraging the consumption of seafood species that are known to be low in mercury: An Overview of Epidemiological Evidence on the Effects of Methylmercury on Brain Development, and A Rationale for a Lower Definition of Tolerable Exposure.
