Mitigation of Inorganic Arsenic in Rice

Existing agronomic, growth management and breeding methods of arsenic mitigation are not only expensive and scale limited but also suffer from the diversity of soil and growing conditions around the globe preclude any clear answer. Two chapters in this thesis show that effective treatments allow significant reductions for inorganic arsenic grain content. Novel parboiling is shown to decrease the final polished grain inorganic arsenic by 25%, while enriching the calcium content by 213%.

Cooking rice with percolating hot water is shown to reduce inorganic arsenic content by up to 85%, in conjunction with standard pre-soaking and washing. These relatively low technology solutions can be applied from rural settings through to urban kitchens. The last section of this thesis shows that the western market is reacting to the setting of guidelines and limits for inorganic arsenic content in certain foods, particularly foods aimed and children and babies.

Although fewer pure rice products seemed available those tested showed lower inorganic arsenic levels, presumably by selective sourcing on behalf of the producers. Another approach was the dilution of inorganic arsenic by mixing with other gluten free grains.