Arsenic in rice

[nuthinbutpink]

This bothers me a lot. The FDA here does not monitor the amount of arsenic in food and rice is now on the radar for arsenic just like apple juice. We feed our babies rice cereal.

FDA urged to set standards for arsenic in rice - San Jose Mercury News (http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_21579679/fda-urged-set-standards-arsenic-rice)

Arsenic levels have been linked to autsim, ADD, ADHD...just something to consider.

[NCBeachyGrl]

I saw this on the Today show this morning! They said to only give babies gerber rice or any other rice cereal brand only once a week. Crazy!

[dloui128]

I saw this on the Today show this morning! They said to only give babies gerber rice or any other rice cereal brand only once a week. Crazy!

That is crazy, I use to give it to my girls all the time

[ashkash]

That's very concerning to me. I've always rotated between rice, barley, and oatmeal with my babies. Looks like I'll be skipping rice cereal altogether with this next little one & just alternating between the others.

[NCBeachyGrl]

They also said cereal with rice (rice krispies, etc..) and all rice products should be limited as well. I would like to see the full list so I can know for sure what is OK and what isn't.

[ThreeMenAndALAdy]

Who the hell would put arsenic in a child's cereal!!!! Every time I turn around I have something else to be worried about. I switched to organic apple juice a long time ago, but have fed all of my kids rice cereal. There are so many rice based cereals like Rice Krispies on the market too. I'm beside myself...

[The Anchor]

Wow, we eat a LOT of rice in our house, at least every other day. The kids love it, and they're so picky already...
What about organic rice? Any better?

[Rosie85]

Yikes! Why must there ALWAYS be something wrong with something. What the hell is wrong with people and controlling food quality. Oh it's soo much cheaper for us if there is arsenic in the rice. It all comes down to money right?? Would I like to give the FDA a piece of my mind....

I gave my kids TONS of rice cereal...ugh. Just one more thing to feel guilty about. Does oatmeal have arsenic too??

[nuthinbutpink]

No. Apparently the way rice is grown it is very "arsenic friendly". It is naturally occurring in the environment. Rice from India is apparently better than China.

[Rosie85]

Isn't there a way to rid the rice of the arsenic?? Or keep the soil tested and cleaner?

[NCBeachyGrl]

Wow, we eat a LOT of rice in our house, at least every other day. The kids love it, and they're so picky already...
What about organic rice? Any better?

Organic was found to have arsenic in it as well. Not sure if the levels are any better than non-organic though. I am very weary of the organic craze. I know a lot of ppl feel organic is best, but I just don't see it.

[Rosie85]

I heard that they did testing between organic and non-organic and there was no difference in nutrients and very little difference with pesticides and such. I don't buy into a lot of it either. What i do follow is not buying a ton of processed foods. Eating whole foods is much more important than eating organic in my opinion.

[NCBeachyGrl]

I heard that they did testing between organic and non-organic and there was no difference in nutrients and very little difference with pesticides and such. I don't buy into a lot of it either. What i do follow is not buying a ton of processed foods. Eating whole foods is much more important than eating organic in my opinion.

Exactly! I think my sister gave it a bad name for me. She buys only organic, won't give her DDs anything with transfat....but yet she gives them pizza and "organic" juice boxes with 23g of sugar each. I think a lot of ppl are just misinformed.

I have a family member that works in a plant that produces Kosher and non Kosher products and the ingredients are the exact same, except the Kosher goes down a different belt and the price is hiked up at the grocery store. Companies will do anything to make an extra buck!

[Shellbelle]

It has to do with soil contamination, I believe. As a crop, rice just soaks it up, so it won't matter if it's organic or not -- it just matters where it was grown. This story first hit when my 2yo was a baby and we stopped rice cereal completely because of it. It still makes me nervous. We are as organic as we can be at my house (my sister thinks we're crazy too, LOL) and it's just another one of those things we stay away from because of the risks.

[Shellbelle]

Exactly! I think my sister gave it a bad name for me. She buys only organic, won't give her DDs anything with transfat....but yet she gives them pizza and "organic" juice boxes with 23g of sugar each. I think a lot of ppl are just misinformed.

I have a family member that works in a plant that produces Kosher and non Kosher products and the ingredients are the exact same, except the Kosher goes down a different belt and the price is hiked up at the grocery store. Companies will do anything to make an extra buck!

Yep, organic junk is still junk. It's just pesticide-free junk. :) A lot of people don't understand that just because it has "organic" stamped on it doesn't make it healthy.

[Hobbermittens]

That's babies' first food! What about organic--is that safe? (sorry, haven't read the article yet.) Iquit giving my kids apple juice after that big scare on Dr Oz a few months ago. What is wrong with the FDA??

[hopefulfornumber3]

So oatmeal is ok?? Sorry if that's already been answered. Scary stuff! I actually switched to a different formula because the one that I was thinking of using had brown rice something in it in place of corn syrup.

[Butterfly Spirit]

I saw this today on the news and it sure makes me wonder how the Chinese live so long as it is their main food staple.

That's something to think about too.

I really don't trust our corrupt government in the US..
Interesting how it was National news and on talk shows too..

Just be careful with the info when it's spread like that.

They were trying to deter vitamins all together not too long ago.

And if I showed you guys what's really going on with McDonalds food, you would hardly want to eat it again.

They add harmful uneccessary things to our food all the time. And we are one of the only countries where GMOs and such aren't required to be labeled.