Revealing the Spatial Distribution of Inorganic Elements in Rice Grains

Femtosecond laser ablation (fs LA) was used in this study to identify pollution by heavy metals and the distribution of elemental nutrients at different rice milling ratios. Polished rice (degrees of milling of 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11) was collected from major Korean supermarkets and one sample thereof was selected. An internal quality control experiment was conducted using a rice flour certified reference material from the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS CRM) for the evaluation of the efficacy. To assess the effectiveness of the analysis method, the reliability was validated using a food analysis performance assessment scheme (FAPAS), with chili powder serving as an external quality control. The results of the analysis of the inorganic elements Ti, Ca, Al, Fe and Mn in white and brown rice with degrees of milling of 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 using ICP-MS, ICP-OES and AAS revealed contents of 0.40, 49.2, 2.43, 5.36 and 10.3 mg/kg in white rice and 0.59, 78.0, 7.52, 11.0 and 18.5 mg/kg in brown rice, respectively. Among the elements, there were remarkable differences in the measured contents. By comparing the contents of the elements at different degrees of milling, Ti, Co, As, Ca, Al, Cu, Fe, and Mn were determined to be distributed on the surface of the rice grains, whereas the contents of Cd and Pb increased toward the center of the rice grains, and Si was evenly distributed. After the quantitative analysis of rice samples polished to different degrees of milling, Ca and Al, which were contained in large amounts, and Si were analyzed with specificity by fs LA. The results show that Ca and Al were distributed in the rice husk (protective covering of rice) and Si was distributed in all parts of the rice.