Concentrations of total as and as speciation in chinese rice wine and associated risk assessment in main producing provinces

Rice and rice products have been identified as significant sources of As. Concerns have been raised about the presence of As in rice wine. This study collected 79 rice wine samples from China. High-performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to determine total As and As species concentrations. The average concentration of total As was 14.6 μg L-1, and the concentration of As (III) (arsenite), As (V) (arsenate), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), and arsenobetaine (AsB) were 2.86 μg L-1 (0.970–6.08 μg L-1), 7.22 μg L-1 (2.24–22.9 μg L-1), 3.92 μg L-1 (1.58–7.82 μg L-1) and 0.620 μg L-1 (ND-0.950 μg L-1), respectively. MMA (monomethylarsonic acid) and AsC (arsenocholine) were not detected. The THQs (target hazard quotients) for chronic noncarcinogenic risks (skin lesions as the point of departure) were below 1, suggesting that the Chinese population did not encounter a significant noncarcinogenic risk. However, the mean values of MOE (margin of exposure) for lung cancer were below 100 (62.1 to 75.1) for male drinkers, indicating a potential carcinogenic risk. By comparing the As species of rice wines and the main raw material, it was found that the methylation increased DMA during fermentation. © 2021, Atomic Spectroscopy Press Limited. All rights reserved.