• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.119-128
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• 2017

BACKGROUND: Miscellaneous cereal have been largely consumed in Korea as due to their physiological functions beneficial to human health. The cereals are currently a social concern because they have been found to contain heavy metals. Thus, monitoring heavy metals in the cereals is an important requirement for food safety analysis. In this study, we determined arsenic concentration in the cereals randomly harvested from different markets. METHODS AND RESULTS: Inorganic arsenic was determined by ICP-MS coupled with HPLC system. The HPLC-ICP-MS analysis was optimized based on the limit of detection and recover test to reach $0.13-1.24{\mu}g/kg$ and 94.3-102.1%, respectively. The concentrations of inorganic arsenic equivalent to daily exposure were levels of $19.91{\mu}g/day$ in mixed grain, $1.07{\mu}g/day$ in glutinous rice, $0.77{\mu}g/day$ in black brown rice, $0.13{\mu}g/day$ in barley and $0.11{\mu}g/day$ in soybeans. CONCLUSION: The levels of arsenic in miscellaneous cereals were found lower than the recommended The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) levels, suggesting that the cereals marketed in Korea are not potential concern in risk assessment.