I believe the units may be wrong. The units should be ug/kg (micrograms/kilogram) and not mg/kg (milligrams/kilogram). What the FSANZ states is correct.
Here is a paper which has looked at the different concentrations of As in Australian and imported rice.
Here is some more information on As in rice -SBS website.
Also background/natural levels of As in soils are typically in the range of 0.2 to 30mg/kg. 189mg/kg would suggest that the rice was grown on highly contaminated soils, assuming that those levels would not cause the mortality of the rice plant. Mortality would likely occur where the form of arsenic is available to/could be taken up by the plants.
I buy organic rice, no particular brands and not from the supermarkets, often what is on special, and mostly basmati, jasmine or brown rice, with no particular preference for grain length. Sometimes it is Australian, sometimes imported.
I cook it in my pressure cooker, which also cooks many other things - we try to avoid single purpose kitchen appliances where possible!
I usually cook a batch that lasts a few days, for use in stir fries, or even as breakfast with a drizzle of honey or chopped fresh fruit and soy milk on it.
We’ve had to chuck some out- to the chooks, in the past due to weevils, but find that storing in the freezer (when space allows) solves that problem. The same goes for flour and rolled grains.
Like you Gordon I refrigerate the rice . It has completely cut down on wastage . I like the idea of appliance rationalisation . I have a couple of multi -pots ( pasta -pots ) The smaller of the two is very water efficient . The pasta insert sits about 20mm above the bottom . The other unit the pasta insert sits 65mm above the bottom . I figured with 65mm of space I could use it as a steamer . Yesterday I did some rice with some vegies as well . Came out ok . Will keep experimenting . /
Your use of pressure cooker interests me . I have never used one although I grew up with my mother using one quite a lot . I might private message you in the future to find the best type for my needs . Thanks for your input .
Yes, you are right, it is 189 micrograms, not 189 milligrams. Yet, much higher than lets say, in Indian rice: “The Basmati White rice variety, produced in India, contained low concentrations of As (32 ± 3 μg/kg), whereas the Australian Long White variety contained 189 ± 11 μg As/kg.”
Also: “Past agriculture practices of the extensive use of As-based chemicals as pesticides has led to As contamination of surface and sub-surface soils throughout Australia. The used of As-based chemicals for livestock dip to treat fleas, ticks and lice has also caused widespread As contamination, as the waste from the dips and bathing pens has drained into the soil”.
While inorganic and organic fertilisers and pesticides may have contributed to arsenic found in soils, in most soils used for agriculture and rice production, it is not the main source of arsenic. Organic and inorganic farming inputs also contain other metals such as chromium, copper, lead, cadmium etc, These metals occur naturally within the environment and in the raw materials which are used for farm inputs.
It is agreed that in some cases where there has been a concentrated use of arsenic based compounds (e.g. dips, timber treatment facilities, industrial/smelting plants, mining etc), which has resulted in high localised concentrations of arsenic in soils under and immediately adjacent to these activities. These soils may, depending on the As concentrations and their chemical structures, may be classed as contaminated under State legislation. Often, As based activities are also nominated in the same legislation as being ones which require further investigation/assessment, especially in the case of a change in land use.
It is also worth noting that under normal farming practices, the contribution of As through organic and conventional farming practices is not overly significant compared to that which naturally occurs in soils.
Generally, most of the arsenic present in soils has occurred through the weather of the underlying rocks or parent material into soil. This weathering process releases arsenic which occurs naturally in the rock minerals.
When rice is often grown in flooded conditions, arsenic in the soil solution (and which may have higher availability) increases due to the anaerobic (reducing) conditions which are present in the flooded soil. This is typically why arsenic levels of rice can be considerably higher than other crops grown in similar soils, but not under flooded conditions. Rice has also been reported to be more efficient in the uptake of arsenic than other cereal gains as well. Both the flooded soil conditions and increased arsenic uptake leads to potentially higher arsenic levels in rice grains.
Also Australian soils are in general very weathered soils (why generally so poor in Phosphorus compounds) and this may also help explain the higher levels of As per kg of soil in Australia and why when Rice is grown here in water there is more As found in the rice.
Eh? I do care what kind I buy, I’m pretty sure I mentioned which types… and they certainly are not indistinguishable after cooking! 6-10 mins, depending on type, at pressure and they are done, which is much faster than steaming/boiling.
If overcooked, by any means, perhaps they’d all seem the same.
I freeze a number of things for 48 hours when I bring them home - rice, dried beans, wheat products etc. I haven’t had a meal moth problem for years. Do not open when you remove from the freezer till it has returned to room temperature.
I buy Sun Rice med. grain 1kg pack and store it in a tall glass jar with screw top, the other day there was a brown flying bug inside the jar!
To have separated, fluffy grains try golden fry first and then add hot water (double water to rice) being very careful to keep face away from the hot steam generated. Cook 15/20m on very low heat, but needs to be very tightly covered so that no steam escapes.
We do not eat a lot of rice as my wife does not particularly like it, so I mainly eat it with my home cooked curries when she is away.
I always buy basmati rice, either Riviana or Mahrajah’s Choice, both from Pakistan. I used to also buy Tilda but it is no longer listed at Coles or Woolies.
For risotto I buy something like Arborio rice which is a very rich in starch rice, because risotto is a very creamy dish, ( never gluggy!) and that is achieved by the constant stirring which releases starch from the grains, and by the adding of any liquid little by little, never having the rice ‘sit’ in the liquid, until the the consistency is creamy but the rice ‘al dente’ (about 20 m). In times past, when taken off the stove, butter was added to the risotto and let stand for a while to absorb it all.
Yes indeed Rice adsorbs Arsenic (As) as it grows. Further up in this topic As is discussed and ways to reduce your intake of As from rice. The Steamer/Rice Cooker adsorption method is the least likely to reduce the As you consume. The method of boiling it in water with the ratio of 5 water to 1 rice seems to reduce the As, but pre-soaking and then putting into fresh water at that ratio is the best outcome.
The article you linked to was more about the As found in children’s rice based snacks and this may be somewhat attributable to way the rice is cooked and processed. If they use the adsorption method like the way a rice cooker does then no loss of As would occur while the rice was cooked. Water for these processes would be considered an expensive input at the quantities used and so they would minimise the use of any water where they could. Imagine the loss of water from doing a pre-soak and then cooking in 5 times as much water as was needed to produce a cooked grain and the amount of energy needed would be much greater. All that water would then need to be dumped and I can just imagine the cry about water wastage. Still it would produce a safer product but a much higher price than current prices. They could perhaps recycle the water after osmotic filtration but that would also add to further energy increases used in the processes creating even higher prices of the end product.
