Determination of Heavy Metals (Cd, Pb, Ni) in Iranian and Imported Rice Consumed in Tehran

Rice is the second most abundant cereal crops in Iran. In recent years, the volume of rice import to Iran is increasing considerably due to the increased average per capita consumption of this product in Iran. The entrance of heavy metals to food supply chain can cause a variety of health risks; therefore, evaluation of heavy metals in imported rice compared to Iranian rice is important considering national and international standards. The aim of this study was to determine the amount of heavy metals including lead, nickel and cadmium in imported Indian, Pakistani and Thai rice as well as Iranian rice.
Ten Indian brands, five trade brands of Iranian rice and three and two trade brands of Thai and Pakistani rice samples (450 samples) were collected from local markets during three months from Tehran. Lead, cadmium and nickel were determined by wet digestion method using a Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer based on international standard method of AOAC.
The mean values of cadmium in imported rice were significantly higher than that obtained for Iranian rice (0.010±0.003 mg kg-1) (p Therefore, food safety monitoring system for imported rice should be performed considerably.