When I first glanced at this headline teaser about the FDA being slow to issue recommendations about arsenic in rice, I momentarily had flashbacks to Arsenic & Old Lace.
No fiction here. Monica Eng over at the Trib is reporting that even though the FDA promised to follow up with more tests and recommendations after it found “worrisome” levels of arsenic in American rice, there’s been no action 10 months later.
Instead, Illinois AG Lisa Madigan and the Consumers Union are pressing for action.
I should hope so. Arsenic in rice. Really? Arsenic, while found naturally in soil and water, can be dangerous depending on its levels and whether it’s organic or the more dangerous inorganic.
Eng reports that the arsenic levels were particularly prevalent in domestic brown rice and infant rice cereals.
Apparently washing the rice before cooking can reduce the arsenic. So can cooking rice like pasta…with too much water, then draining off the excess.
The story also notes that tests reveal basmati and jasmine rice have much lower levels of inorganic arsenic.
Virtual Farmgirl 