Heavy metal concentrations in rice that meet safety standards can still pose a risk to human health

Abstract Long-term consumption of rice containing heavy metal(loid)s poses significant risks to public health, which can be scientifically evaluated through food safety assessment. However, spatial variability and uncertainty in exposure parameters are generally neglected in existing food safety assessment standards. This study focused on rice consumption in 32 provinces of China, and extracted 3376 data points of five heavy metal(loid)s (cadmium, arsenic, mercury, lead, and chromium) and two nutrient elements (copper and zinc) from 408 articles. Probability and fuzzy methods were integrated to cope with the spatial variability or uncertainty and more accurately evaluate the risk. The results demonstrated that long-term consumption of rice that meets the national food safety standards still can cause non-negligible health risks, particularly for children and toddlers with chronical exposure. Arsenic and Cd were found to be the most critical elements, which contribute to 64.57% and 22.38% of the overall human health risk, respectively. Fuzzy assessment indicated that the score in northern China is approximately eight folds of that in southern China, indicating that northern rice has lower risks and better nutrition. Our results demonstrate that the food safety standards need to be tailored according to local conditions with more specific receptor parameters and risk acceptance.